Rowan Resigns - The Recorder

Transcription

Victor E. Controversy Revealed Inside
- Page 3
NEWS President Miller Eats a Salad - Page 2
ADULT The Recorder’s Miss April 2007 - Page 5
SPORTS Greg Oden Actually 32 Years Old - Page 17
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Volume 103 No. 23
Rowan Resigns
Laura Stalgaitis
Copy Editor
Residents of Belvedere fight fire with fire, trashing students’ front lawns and sidewalks.
Conrad Akier / The Recorder
Belvedere Residents Strike Back
Chris Boulay
News Editor
porch,” said CCSU junior Rob MacClintock.
Adults of all ages have run rampant through the streets these past
few nights, breaking bottles of rum
on the road, driving over fences of
students’ houses, blasting Rod Stew-
Residents in the Belvedere
neighborhood have retaliated against
the unruly college students who have
caused problems over the course of
the school year in an
unusual way: they have
vowed to get them back.
Pandemonium has
struck the area, which
now looks more like a
mix between UConn’s
Carriage House area
after a Friday party and
Dresden, Germany af- - Rob MacClintock, CCSU junior
ter it was firebombed in
art and Enya records until early hours
World War II.
“I can’t believe this! I don’t feel of the morning and committing so
safe at all – they are all after us! My many lewd acts that students just do
front door was covered in vomit and not know how to react to.
Kelly Horowitz, a CCSU sophoI think I see traces of blood on my
more, woke up last Friday to find toilet paper all over her porch as well as
some other unwelcome visitors.
She said, while holding back
tears, “Someone pooped on my front
step. I think I stepped in it.”
With the warm weather here,
students
began
opening windows at
bed time only to find
their houses filled
with clutter thrown
inside, such as Spaghetti-Os, used condoms and broken or
crushed items from
The Christmas Tree
Shop.
President Miller has asked all
students to stay inside until the worst
passes, but he cannot guarantee that
their class attendance grades will not
be affected.
The Editor-in-Chief of the
highly-acclaimed student newspaper, The Recorder, announced that
he was resigning from office last
Friday.
Mark Rowan, 21, of Shelton,
Connecticut, publicly stepped down
from office last Friday on the Paula
Zahn Now show on CNN. Rowan,
who was sharply dressed in a blue
and white argyle sweater, jeans and
sneakers, was invited to the show as
a special guest speaker.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” said Rowan. “I can no longer
be your Chief. I know this comes
as a shock to many, but it is for the
best.”
Rowan’s resignation came
under the tough pressure of Mike
Lombardi, CCSU alumnus from the
Class of ’88 and former Editor-inChief of The Recorder. It was also in
response to a growing protest to an
opinion article Rowan ran entitled,
“Horses Are People Too.”
Lombardi, who will be resurrected at Editor-in-Chief, said that
Rowan has personally embarrassed
him through his actions in such a
prestigious office.
“Not only did he allow degrading articles to print and then offer
his sincere apology about them, but
he also censored a very important
article about soft versus crunchy
Cheetos,” said Lombardi. “I was a
better Editor-in-Chief back when
Rowan was a toddler, and I will be a
better one now.”
John Pollard, leader of the protest against the article, “Horses Are
People Too,” is glad to see such a
legend return to the Chiefship.
“He would have never made
such grave mistakes as Rowan,” said
Pollard. “He would have never let a
piece like ‘Horses Are People Too’
run. He knows that horses are not
people. That’s why they are called
horses and not human beings.”
“I have seen the error of my
ways,” said Rowan during his four-
See Rowan Resigns, page 3
“I can’t believe this! I don’t feel safe
at all. My front door was covered
in vomit and I think I see traces of
blood on my porch.”
See Residents Strike Back, page 3
Central Now a Wet Campus
Karyn Danforth
Staff Writer
A meeting was held
on Monday, April 2
in Founders Hall to
determine whether
Central Connecticut
State would become
a wet campus. The
committee,
made
up of administration, professors, and
President Miller himself, was formulated to
explore ideas that allowed
consumption of alcohol in
the comforts of their offices.
Not wanting to be deemed hypocritical, the committee decided it would
be best to allow students to partake in
the same activities as campus admin-
istration. The decision passed clarifies
that students will have the ability to
keep alcohol stored in dorm refrigerators and are allowed to have events and
programs that serve liquor and beer.
“It’s about time,” said sophomore
Jason Cunningham. “The administration and alumni would have their wine
and dinner banquets restricted from
student attendance. Prior to today’s decision, I didn’t understand why people
who paid to go here couldn’t drink alcohol but the people who got paid to be
here were allowed to at such gatherings.
I didn’t see why we couldn’t have such
a privilege.”
Legal age students standing outside Davidson rejoiced after hearing
the verdict. President Miller walked
outside, hands raised with a jubilant
smile upon his face. Students chanted
“Miller” and eagerly awaited word
See Wet Campus, page 3
http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/
Committee-on-Committee Action
Melissa Traynor
News Editor
CCSU President Jack Miller’s
wife announced today that she will
be creating a committee which will
be directly involved with her husband’s own current Committee on
Journalistic Integrity.
The first Committee on Journalistic Integrity was created in
response to the original campus
response to an opinion article published in early February.
In a letter sent out to all students, faculty and staff via the listserv, Mrs. Jill Miller has formally
named the Committee to Review
the Committee on Journalistic Integrity, the Faculty In General Who
Have Reacted to The Recorder’s
Opinion Piece and Possibly Some
Other Related Complainers, a.k.a.
“Big Brother.”
In her letter, Mrs. Miller mentions how “many times in the past
[she] has been called upon to de-
fend committee principles, but what
President Jack Miller has created recently in regards to creating a committee, [she] must look into the matter and perform an investigation.”
She will compose a committee
to oversee President Miller’s Committee on Journalistic Integrity by
gathering not only the spouses of
the faculty on the existing committee and students, but citizens of the
general public who have stood by
and watched these happenings from
outside campus boundaries.
The chair of this new committee will be Harold J. Smith, a citizen of New Britain and a man who
claims residence underneath the
Route 9 overpass on East Street.
“I volunteered because I knew
that we could do something better
by making an overseeing committee,” Smith said.
He also mentioned that The
Recorder deserved better be cause
he “can’t even count the number of
times that [he’s] used bundles of pa-
See Committee-on-Committee, page 3
2
News
The Recorder
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Editor-in-Chief
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Managing Editor
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Conrad Akier
Copy Editor
Laura Stalgaitis
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Stephanie Bergeron
News Editors
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Sports Editor
Alex Carr
Entertainment Editor
Edward Gaug
Lifestyles Editor
Ariel James
Web Editor
John Vignali
Staff
Ashley Andriulli
Gabrielle Byko
Jessica Carraro
Karyn Danforth
Chris DeMorro
Dan Gray
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Susan Kondracki
Michael Krafcik
Stephanie Maldonado
Duncan Sanford
Samantha Sullivan
Nick Viccione
The Recorder is a student-produced
publication of Central Connecticut State
University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of
CCSU’s administrators, faculty, or students. The Recorder articles, photographs, and graphics are property of the
Recorder and may not be reproduced or
published without the written permission
from the Editor-in-Chief.
The purpose of the Recorder is to approach and define issues of importance
to the students of Central Connecticut
State University.
Administration Takes Proactive
Stance to Prevent Student Injury
Brian Morache
Staff Writer
If one were to take a short walk around
campus, especially between classes, one can
not help but notice the number one accessory
of students: the cell phone. They seem to be
permanently attached to the ear or connected
to small devices that appear to be embedded
into the wearer’s ear. It’s a wonder students
don’t suffer from ‘cell phone elbow,’ a condition caused by the constantly bent position of
the arm when using the popular device.
In response to this and other complaints,
CCSU has decided to take a proactive stance
regarding these dangerous devices by instituting a school-wide ban on all cell phone use.
No more calls, text messaging or even game
playing. Leave the phones at home or in the
car. Anyone using a cell phone on campus will
have the device immediately confiscated and
will be charged 25 cents for each call with an
additional 10 cents per minute after the first
three minutes. The administration has been
kind enough not to charge for roaming or
long distance. Confiscated cell phones will be
mailed to the students’ home with no guarantee that the device will get there in one piece.
To compensate for any lack of communication, pay phones will be added throughout campus. The school has contracted with
a London firm to supply English-style phone
booths, painted blue in honor of the Blue Devils. And, while these phone booths will look
like they came from Dr. Who, it is doubtful
that they will be capable of time travel. As an
added security measure and to prevent couples
from using them for a late night rendezvous,
cameras will be placed in each phone booth.
Administration officials based this decision, not only on the immediate health issues
related to the use of cell phones, but also the
social and educational problems they have created. Professors are fed up with interruptions
from student’s cell phones, as they are unable
to determine if their own phone is ringing or if
it is a student’s phone.
Psychology professors have noticed an
increased incidence of students talking to
themselves as they walk, apparently speaking
to no one who is really listening. Sociology
professors question the value of a device that
James Hall
No Longer
the ‘Cool’
Place to Be
Dan Gray
Staff Writer
effectively shuts students off from all those
great people around them in favor of someone
who is God knows how far away. Even maintenance and grounds keepers have complained
of students being so distracted by their phones
that they are walking into trees and buildings,
or trampling flowers and bushes. This has
led to increased costs in repairs and grounds
maintenance, as well as the use of counseling
serviced by student receiving up-to-the-minute bad news.
Given the clear and present danger created by cell phones, it has become clear to
administration officials that these evil devices
have to go. Choosing to act rather than to wait
until a student was seriously injured due to either distraction or the dreaded ‘cell phone elbow,’ CCSU will strictly enforce a ban on all
cell phone use on campus grounds. I guess it’s
time to hang up the phone and actually talk to
someone near you. What a concept.
The residents of CCSU’s James Hall
faced a cold, hard fact upon returning to
campus from Spring Break earlier last week.
When residents returned to set up their dorms,
they once again found the rooms were stifling
hot and dried out, as a result of the heat being
turned up to full blast during the week-long
break to prevent the pipes from freezing.
This led to incessant complaining and
demands being poured out on the Resident
Assistant’s of James Hall. “Why did you keep
the heat on all week?” “Can we have the AC
turned on since we pay an extra $250 for a semester, at least while we move in?” and “When
WILL the AC be turned on?” were among the
most frequent inquiries. In response to the last
question the answer was, “Never, unless you
plan on taking summer courses,” followed by
the most evil laugh imaginable.
That’s right, James Hall Residents, the
air conditioner is not being turned on until the
day you move out. The reason behind this is
uncertain, but a popular theory is being suggested that this will leave students studying
for finals in the most intolerable of weather
conditions, with sweat pouring off their
foreheads and dripping in tiny innumerable
splashes on their delicate lined paper notes,
blurring the ink and causing another irritating
road block to their finals’ preparation.
This will cause the grades to be extremely low, resulting in a failed effort to grab the
two, three or four credits available in that class
and pushing graduation back yet another year
or two. This is all an indiscreet way to force
students to take an extra semester or two and
squeeze every last bit of financial aid and lifesavings out of them. To be perfectly honest, I
wish I came up with a scheme like this, I am
sincerely impressed by this particular case of
nickel and diming.
It’s a huge downer to think about; the
last two months of the school year, the one’s
where there weather is at its highest bliss, the
dorms come alive with a special feeling. It’s
when lovers spend the entire day in each other’s beds perfectly unaware of the heat outside, guys ease in their favorite chair to watch
baseball while breaking into a sweat that the
players are usually having to deal with, and
work gets done in haste in order to go out afterwards when the night is cooling off the air
and the real fun happens. But all of this will
now be in severe jeopardy thanks to the utilities of James Hall deciding to take the semester abroad. Better start making acquaintances
with residents in Sheridan before it’s too late.
Correction:
In the February 7, 2007 issue of The
Recorder, we overlooked the printing of
the article entitled “Horses Are People
Too.” After two months of research, The
Recorder discovered that we have made
a grave error, and that horses are in fact
not people. We would like to apologize
for anyone who was mislead by the article
and hope no uninformed mating occurred
in the last two months.
3
Tupac Calls It Quits United States Invades Mexico
to Stop Illegal Immigration
Brian Morache
Staff Writer
diverseimages.com
Christopher Boulay
News Editor
It is official: Tupac Shakur, one
of the most influential hip-hop artists in history has retired from music
making.
Shakur, a Manhattan native, who
died 10 years ago, has collaborated
with over 80 artists and made over
456 albums with the likes of Digital Underground, Nate Dogg, Dave
Chappelle, Anthony Hamilton and
Tyrese.
Shakur said, “I just felt that I
left my mark on the rap community.
I think it is the best time for Makaveli
to follow in the footsteps of Jay-Z and
call it a career. Thug life.”
The move has shocked the entire
rap community and saddened fans all
over the world for not only the fact
that he is stopping playing music, but
the fact that he is actually still putting
out press releases.
“The rumors must have been
true. I guess he isn’t dead. But the fact
that he isn’t making music anymore
really just feels like he died again.
I miss you Makaveli!” said devout
Shakur fan Tim Walker.
Though the statement was released, Shakur’s family confirmed
that he died nine years ago and is in
fact, still dead. They also claim that
even though there is a new album
planned this year, Shakur is not able
to record any more tracks because of
his current situation, which confused
many fans.
Shakur has also said that he is
probably finished with acting, but
would not mind to play himself in
parts of a possible biographical film
in the future.
Residents Strike
Back
Continued from page 1
Screams, smoke and the smell of
vomit bellow out of the area, especially
at night. Helicopters pass over the area
to make sure there is some order in the
area. They have not seen anyone hurt.
The number of casualties has not
been reported, but up to three people
have been reported missing. Residents
on the outer rim of what the authorities are calling the “hot zone” believe
it could be months before the tomfoolery lets up.
One of the students that has been
reported missing, Jim Shea, was seen
going out during one of the adult’s parties to try to make nice and drink with
them. He has not been seen since.
Though police won’t go in the
area, they believe that the situation
will dissipate by itself. Inside sources
have hinted at the adults stopping from
exhaustion, as many of them cannot
drink and party nearly as hard or as
long as the average college student.
The Notorious B.I.G., whose real
name is Christopher Wallace, was
rumored to have ended his feud with
Tupac, and continued his posthumous
career, which as of late has not been
as successful as Shakur’s. Sources
have mentioned that B.I.G may make
this move in hopes that Shakur can revitalize his career.
The rap star, famous for songs
like “California Love” and “Thugz
Mansion,” plans to open a daycare
center in the suburban Buffalo, NY
area because he wants to “give back
to the kids.” He said that primary
plans are to name it “Thugz Playhouse
Daycare,” a play on one of his famous
posthumous song’s namesake.
Shakur said, “I have been personally touched by the Buffalo area
and I want to make a place where kids
can feel safe. Buffalo and the areas
around it are pretty rough and this
is my way of helping make it better.
Thug life.”
Celebrities such as Snoop Dogg,
Eminem, Jesus, Eddie Murphy and
Ethan Hawke all praised Shakur for
calling it a career so he would go out
on top before it became too dragged
out.
This announcement confirms
that his next album, which is scheduled to be released later this year, will
be his last. The name has not been
released, but some ideas that have allegedy been leaked is “Tupachillies’
Last Stand,” “I’m Taking Suge Knight
with Me” and “Juice 2: The Music.”
Four new, recently recorded songs are
planned to be on the record, as well as
more to come.
Rowan Resigns
minute segment, “I feel that Lombardi
truly deserves to be Editor-in-Chief,
and that I need to step down from
the position. President Miller once
said, ‘The Recorder does not always
live up to the standards of The New
York Times,’ and I now realize that I
am the reason that it doesn’t. Recent
articles have helped The Recorder to
gain national attention, and I know I
need to step down so The Recorder
can forevermore live up to the standards of the New York Times.”
Christopher Klett, Managing
Editor of The Recorder, said, “I think
it’s good that Mark is stepping down.
He knows his role.”
Klett will also be resigning
from his position because Lombardi
told him it would be good for The Recorder to start with a clean slate.
It is rumored around campus
that Rowan will be spending his newly free time fetching Scott Whipple’s
coffee at The New Britain Herald.
He reportedly no longer does what
he wants.
Responding to demands for
more secure borders and a crackdown on illegal immigration, President Bush authorized National
Guard units to roll across the Mexican border. Bush stated that the
easiest way to solve the illegal immigration problem was to force all
Mexicans to become U.S. citizens.
This goes hand in hand with the solution of getting rid of trees to prevent forest fires.
Brushing aside light resistance
from Mexican forces, the 49th Armored Division of the Texas National Guard fought its way to within 10
miles of Mexico City. At the same
time, units from the California National Guard quickly seized the Baja
Peninsula and as we speak are wading in the Mexican surf.
Just how could our forces have
gained such a stunning victory so
quickly? Well, it seems that the
invasion was actually launched last
week, but only now is the Bush administration releasing the information to the public.
“We knew that if we went ahead
and told everyone about an invasion
that there would be questions and
we have to give answers. Everyone
in the administration understands
that questions and answers lend aid
and comfort to our enemies. So it
seemed best to just go ahead and do
it,” said an official under the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, many in Congress
were appalled that they were not
kept in the loop regarding the invasion. Senator Reid, the Democratic
Majority Leader, was shocked, but
not completely surprised.
He said, “If it wasn’t apparent
before now that this president believes Congress doesn’t exist, then
it is certainly apparent now. Just
because we let him go into Iraq because he said there were bad people
there, doesn’t mean he can invade
any country he feels like.”
Other Senators seemed to have
a different view, such as Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman, “Sure the
President led us into Iraq for false
pretences and then lied to the American people about it, but I’ll still give
him the benefit of the doubt. If we
didn’t fight them there, then we’d
have to employ them here, pay them
and, of course, deal with illegal immigration. By conquering Mexico,
we can just make them all legal U.S.
citizens and that solves your immigration problem.”
While several news commentators had been calling for more
stringent border security and there
had been calls from all parts of the
United States for a crackdown on
illegal immigration, an invasion
of Mexico is not what they had in
mind. Military leaders are still concerned about the limited number
of resources available for the latest
Bush pre-emptive war.
“We have sufficient naval forces
to complete the war plan, but when
it comes to troops on the ground we
have to rely on our second tier manpower, namely the National Guard
troops. We’ve considered asking
private militia groups in the Border
States to lend a hand and have gotten positive responses,” a military
source stated, again under the condition of anonymity.
When the White House was
questioned about the possibility of
the draft, they flatly rejected the
idea.
“We don’t see how anything
like a draft would help the moral
of our troops. Beyond this point,
to institute a draft would require a
total revamping of the exemption
system to ensure that we would
only draft the poor Democrats, ah I
mean qualified persons,” said White
House Spokesman Tony Snow, who
quickly apologized for his ‘flawed’
comment.
Adding a more personal message to anti-illegal immigration advocate Lou Dobbs of MSNBC, “We
were tired of hearing Lou Dobbs
complain how ‘soft’ we were on immigration. I’d like to see him and
others who criticized us for being
soft on anything to say that now.”
Aid for Mexico has been limited as few countries seek to anger
the United States. However, Hugo
Chavez has been supplying Mexico’s limited military with fuel and
offered to send the Venezuelan military to assist Mexico.
“We shall pour across the
borders, coming to the aid of our
Mexican brothers. The full might
of Venezuela will be thrown against
the Imperialistic invaders!” Chavez
proclaimed from his capital. Apparently, he hadn’t been informed that
Venezuela did not border Mexico.
In response, the Bush administration encouraged Americans to boycott Citgo gas stations nationwide.
Some American citizens feel
that it has become quite clear that
when this administration chooses
to solve a problem, they go all out
to make it go away. Problem with
forest fires? Simple, their solution is
to eliminate the trees. No trees, no
forest fires. Don’t like illegal immigration? Invade Mexico. Problem
solved.
Wet Campus
from the “The Dude,” a nickname
they bestowed upon Miller after the
movie The Big Lebowski.
“Kegger on Vance lawn, tonight at nine o’clock! Pimps and
hoes party theme!” Miller yelled
excitedly. Some broke down in tears
of joy. Hundreds whipped out their
concealed flasks, no longer having
to hide them in shame, waving them
in the air like lighters at a Kansas
concert.
SA/LD was inundated with
applications for new student clubs
dedicated to the consumption of alcohol. Of these clubs the one with
the most momentum in members is
the proposed Beer Pong club. The
club hopes to provide a worthwhile
and entertaining event on Thursday
nights that will provide an alternative to Devil’s Den at 10 p.m. Along
with the creation of such clubs, a
CCSU chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous is in the works, it is expected
attendance will rise dramatically
over the next several months.
Some are skeptical as to whether the ability to consume alcohol will
deter students away from their education. Devils Den at 10 p.m. organizers believe it will “...put less of a
focus on academics and more on the
social aspect of college.”
When being asked if having alcohol on campus would her affect her
education, junior Loretta Johansenn
exclaimed in relief, “Now I can get
completely hammered while reading
Jack Kerouac. Maybe I’ll actually
understand his literature!”
Others find inebriation beneficial in remembering statistics
and enhancing their performance
on exams. “The only time I won’t be
drinking is when I’m asleep, and that
will only be a few hours.” says junior
Roy Rogers.
Others are unsure as to the effect that this decision will actually
have on campus. Mark E. Salamone,
a senior majoring in economics stated, “I’m not sure alcohol consumption will increase on campus. People
just won’t be so secretive about it
anymore.”
Committee-on-Committee
pers for a blanket.”
Similar to the existing committee, the new committee will be
divided up into groups, but the new
sub-committees will have responsibilities including reviewing the
complaints of different parties and
organizations on campus and making sure that the other committee
“doesn’t get out of hand.”
According to the PR representative of Mrs. Miller’s committee,
Phil K. Bishop, the new committee would like to send the message
that they are really trying to correct
some mishaps within CCSU. “We
want people to know we’re the good
guys, here,” Bishop said.
Student Jason “O.J.” O’Mally,
who is also a third-string offensive
lineman for the CCSU football team,
holds a seat on the new committee.
“My job, I think, is to figure out how
to really intimidate President Miller’s committee. I mean, all they’ve
been doing is earning personal fouls
for themselves and it’s time they had
a ref to be scared of,” O’Mally said.
Mrs. Miller said that she had
the idea to create a new committee,
not only because she wanted to “be
involved with the whole situation,
but also because it just seemed like
the ‘thing’ to do.”
She says she received inspiration from CCSU’s past, including
the Committee on Plagiarism and
Learning How to Get Away with It,
the Hairnet Committee: How Memorial Hall is Free of Loose (Pubic)
Hair and, more recently, the Committee on Revolutionary Committees, which was encouraged by the
author of the book Committees for
Dummies.
OPINION Go Home, Dan Rather - Page 6
APRIL FOOLS! Now onto the real newspaper...
SPORTS Tillman’s Death is a Reminder - Page 8
- Pages 4 to 16
LIFESTYLES Student-Marine: Part II - Page 14
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Volume 103 No. 23
SGA Presents Preliminary Bylaw
Changes to Mixed Response
Christopher Boulay
News Editor
Former President Judd’s time at Central is still shrouded in controversy. Most recently audit reports
showed Central did not compile with it’s own financial policies during his presidency.
The Student Government Association
sponsored a dinner in order to present the new
financing bylaws for the student-run clubs on
campus.
The event, led by SGA President Chris
Brine, received a mixed response from both
SGA members and representatives of clubs
across the CCSU campus on Monday.
The bylaws had major changes such as requiring all SGA-funded clubs to request their
budgets for the next academic year prior to that
year, preventing SGA-funded clubs from receiving funding to more than one club-related
conference per academic year, cutting off all
food funding for clubs, the finance chair and
the treasurer of SGA will now be one position
and changing the fact that non-senators can
join the finance committee. All of the current
decisions are preliminary and can be changed
or made permanent at the next SGA meeting.
Jaroslaw Adamkiewicz, a member of the
International Relations Club, believes that the
changes of the finance committee support a
conflict of interest.
“You can’t be in the SGA as well as a
club. You also can’t be on the finance committee and in a club,” he said. “Sure, you can abstain from voting on your club when the time
comes, but should we trust them?”
He added, “The SGA members were
voted in by a very small amount of campus,
I believe it was one percent. How is that a
representation of what the campus wants? It
wouldn’t be a problem if people were voted in
by 51 percent of the campus, but the number
was so small. People are not perfect. We always have our best interests in mind. [The International Relations Club] is like my family.
So if I joined the SGA would I leave my shoes
at the door? Of course I wouldn’t. This allows
the members to support each other so that the
big clubs can do what they want. Small clubs
cannot really do that.”
Regarding the removal of food funding
in favor of fundraising to earn food funding
money Adamkiewicz said, “The SGA is paid
stipends too and they take other clubs’ food
money now. The government, big or small, always wants to cut funding for things, but they
will never cut their own funding to help something out.”
See Preliminary Bylaw Changes, page 5
Financial Aid Could See an Increase
CCSU Fails to Compile to Own
Guidelines and Financial Policies
Melissa Traynor
News Editor
Melissa Traynor
News Editor
In an audit report dated in March 2007,
State Auditors of Public Accounts Robert G.
Jaekle and Kevin P. Johnston found that CCSU
was not in compliance with the university’s own
guidelines and financial policies during the
school years 2003 and 2004.
During Dr. Richard L. Judd’s presidency
and Dr. Robert N. Aebersold’s interim presidency at the campus, there were 20 areas where
the auditing office found inconsistencies. The
concerns ranged from recording employees’
compensatory time to the university’s residence
policies.
“Listed are the prior recommendations, and
then also how the University reacted to them.
Currently, there are 18 areas of recommendation,” Jaekle said.
In its review of 10 university employees,
the office found that the records of eight employees held inaccuracies. The report states that the
office “noted one instance, where an employee
was allowed to accrue compensatory time that
exceeded the contractual limit without the approval of the Chief Human Resources Officer.”
In another case from the same area of concern, the auditors mentioned in their report that
one employee was compensated upon separation from the university for 14 hours of compensatory time that was not earned.
As a result of the lax conditions, the auditors recommended that CCSU should monitor
and improve controls over the record keeping of
compensatory time. During previous reports, a
See CCSU Fails, page 5
Legislation recently proposed by Governor Jodi Rell could possibly increase financial
aid for college students. An extra $12.8 million could go to the
Connecticut Aid for Public College Students,
which would bring funding from $16,520,920
to $29,299,486.
The additional funding was passed by the
Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee of the Connecticut General
Assembly last Thursday and is now in the process of being reviewed by the Appropriations
Committee.
“The Appropriations Committee is really
where the rubber hits the road,” said State Senator Dan Debicella, who is a ranking member
of Higher Education and also a member of Appropriations. He also added that it was a bipartisan effort and members agreed that the needs
of the students must be met.
Appropriations will consider the proposal
and finalize their reports by the end of the next
two months. Debicella said that even though
this funding is greatly needed and many factors are involved in the final decision, they are
working to make sure that taxes do not rise
this year.
The $12.8 million will fund an additional
4,000 grants. Currently 4,554 students receive
funding from CAPCS and the average scholarship is worth $3,500. Debicella said that many groups are in
support of this legislation including students
and professors. He said that they testified in favor of the extra funding at the public hearing.
In regards to making a final decision, the
committee should take into account student
support.
“It’s never a bad thing to make your opinions known to us,” Debicella said.
Cambridge Debate Concludes Battle of Sexes Still Ongoing
Melissa Traynor
News Editor
About 25 people
gathered in Alumni
Hall last Tuesday to
watch the 20th Annual
Cambridge
Debates
over which the opposition claimed victory.
The Student Government
Association’s
President Chris Brine moderated
the two hour event and began his
introduction with a brief history
of the Debates and an overview of
the rules.
He stressed that it may be difficult for a debater to develop their
argument efficiently and thoroughly, but it is more challenging to for
someone to argue for a point in which they do
not personally believe.
“It is important to have the ability to remain objective, and also to understand and
respect each other,” Brine said.
The two teams were composed of members of both CCSU and Cambridge. Katie
Patnoe, Jenn Hedges, Alex Estrom and Brian
Morache were the members from Central.
While, Giles Robertson, Suzie Riddell, Mischa Balen and Shane Murray were from Cambridge.
The proposition, which held the philosophy that “This House Believes that the Battle
of the Sexes Has Been Won,” began their attack with CCSU’s Estrom, the chairperson of
the Student Union Board of Governors.
Among the many areas where he argued
women were inferior to men, Estrom referred
to a situation in which women are less likely
to make up their minds. As the result of this
confusion, he said that “it
falls to men to make the decisions that women can
not.”
The
opposition,
who argued that the
battle of the sexes was far
from being over, started
in with Katie Patnoe.
She, who brought biological reasoning to the argument, discussed how the life
expectancy of women is longer and
how men are more likely to suffer
violent deaths.
Patnoe also mentioned that
women held a footing in world politics, including Margaret Thatcher,
Nancy Pelosi and Sandra Day
O’Connor.
See Battle of Sexes, page 5
5
$100 Free Printing Credit Offered
Jessica Carraro
Staff Writer
The next time students go to
print out a 36-page report with color
pictures, they can breathe a sigh of
relief because now CCSU has placed
$100 free-print credits for when students swipe their Blue Chip Card on
a print station at the Marcus White
Computer Lab.
However, this money can only
be used for printing in the computer
lab. According to Lisa R. Washko,
Director of Academic Computing
Service of the ITS Department, all
students pay a tech fee each semester.
This tech fee is used to buy computer
hardware and software that students
come in direct contact with in computer classrooms and labs on campus.
Students pay many fees to the university and the ITS Dept. felt that it was
time to give something back to the
students.
The tech fee is instituted by
the Board of Trustees of the State
University System and is necessary to fund hardware and software
upgrades; therefore it is difficult to
eliminate. Washko said there have
been a number of complaints over the
years from students about the charge
for printing. The ITS Dept. felt there
was a definite need to address these
complaints.
Student Sandy Finnimore said,
“I am excited about it. I never used
Marcus White Computer Lab because I didn’t want to pay for it, but
now that I have the $100 credit I can
use that resource.”
The system will subtract the cost
of printing from the free-print balance
each time a student prints. When the
free-print balance is reduced to zero,
the system will start subtracting from
his or her Blue Chip Card balance.
The printing credit is separate
from the funds deposited on students’
Blue Chip Cards. In future semesters,
this $100 credit will appear at the beginning of every semester. It does
not rollover but is wiped out just before the semester starts so each student starts with a new $100 balance.
In the future the free printing may extend to the library and
academic center for student athletes.
Washko said the positive and negatives of offering free printing will be
studied to determine what will happen in future semesters.
appears on the face of the card.”
The university had responded
with the following statement: “The
Human Resources Department now
notifies the P- Card Administrator
immediately upon notification of an
employee termination.”
ing away from student housing.
CCSU did not have formal policies and procedures at the time, the
report stated, that prevented the usage
of residence halls by non-students.
Jaekle said that the auditing office has no enforcement powers and
can only make recommendations. “The State Auditors really
are a reporting body,” he said.
However, agencies being audited
can take corrective action and
follow the recommendations.
In extreme and rare cases,
state audits that went uncorrected
and progressed to more serious
problems have resulted in possible
job loss. Jaekle mentioned when in
2000, the University of Connecticut
had failed to correct several fire code
violations. As a result certain legislation was passed to require stronger
internal control.
CCSU Fails
similar recommendation was listed,
yet CCSU has had the same problems
in keeping accurate records of compensatory time.
The Athletics Department also
stumbled upon problems with employee records and did not file accurate descriptions of 12 coaches’
leave time. As of May 30, 2005, the
said coaches did not file any vacation, sick or personal leave time,
which concerned the auditing office.
After consulting the Human
Resources Department and the said
coaches, the auditing office found
that the cumulative time taken off
was 134 days.
Another are where the office
found fault was internal control over
purchasing cards. In tracing 25 purchasing cards, it was discovered that
four types of violations occurred.
The report states that “one purchasing cards was utilized by an individual other than the person whose name
The Athletics Department also
stumbled upon problems with
employee records and did not
file accurate descriptions of 12
coaches’ leave time.
Among the other violations, the
auditors found that many receipts
were missing or the existing receipts
on file were inadequate.
Aside from financial audits, the
office also found that the university
residence policies had flaws. During
the fall of 2004, an employee lived on
campus grounds, after which the university found that the space was tak-
Battle of Sexes
In a tone which reflected a certain caution towards the opposition,
the proposition’s Morache took the
stance that men, even though as the
superiors to women, are in continuing support of them and men the perpetual protectors.
CCSU’s Theatre Club President
Jenn Hedges of the opposition countered Morache’s argument, by bringing in information from the business
world and mentioned that women are
far more driven than men. She stated
that “women have taken charge in the
corporate world… for example; 420
women per day start their own business and become entrepreneurs.”
She drew special attention to the
first women to work as a guard for the
Tower of London, which has had all
male yeoman warders since its creation in 1485.
Hedges mentioned that Moira
Cameron met the requirements to
even apply for the job, which included
serving a minimum of 22 years in the
Army, the Royal Air Force or Royal
Marines and obtain the Long Service
and Good Conduct Medal.
She concluded that “Grace Kelly did everything Fred Astaire could
do, but she did it backwards, and in
heels.”
After the first four debaters had
made their cases, the audience was
allowed to interject and ask questions. An audience member asked of
Hedges, “Grace Kelley didn’t dance
with Fred Astaire; wasn’t it Ginger
Rogers?” which drew a few laughs
from the crowd.
Robertson of the proposition
countered various arguments from
the opposition, mainly those of women in politics and business.
After concluding that women
had to behave and act like men in
order to succeed in the political atmosphere, he noted that “Margaret
Thatcher was the most masculine
prime minister [Britain’s] ever had!”
He also mentioned that the battle, if there was one, has been framed
by men, therefore women are predes-
tined to lose. Robertson concluded
that women “leave the door open for
men to choose what opportunities
and rights they have.”
Second to last was Riddell, the
only female debating for the proposition’s side. She argued that so far,
women have in fact let men frame the
war, and as a consequence women are
not fighting for equality, but dominance. Riddell agreed with Robertson in that “women who are forced
into politics actually do have to act
like men to succeed.”
She concluded that it is reasonable for a woman to be on the proposition’s side because not only is the
war over and men have won, but that
women have to look beyond the war
and define their goals on their own
terms.
Around two hours into the
event, Brine had declared that the
opposition had won, saying “the motion fails, the battle of the sexes has
not been won,” and closed the debate
with the final slam of a gavel.
Preliminary Bylaw Changes
Brine believes that though some
thought the new decisions had some
negative elements to them, it is still a
huge improvement to the bylaws.
“I kind of expected students to
be frustrated with new club restrictions, especially the food restriction,
but these issues have become notorious problems with SGA,” he said.
This year, the Senate Finance
Committee went $25,000 over budget. This was the main reason that
the bylaws were changed.
“The old system for bylaws encouraged wasteful spending. It currently allows clubs to spend all of
their money so that they will be able
to have more funding for the next
academic year,” Brine said. “There
are an increasing amount of clubs being recognized every semester and it
becomes a problem to be able to fund
them all. The rich clubs get richer and
the poor clubs get poorer under this
system. We want to change that.”
Study: Fewer Women Smoke
Sara Dover
U-Wire
New York City has 123,000
fewer female smokers since 2002,
according to recent study, reflecting
a downward trend among students
at New York University and other
college-aged women throughout the
city.
The study, conducted by the
city’s Department of Health and Hygiene, also found that young women
are about half as likely to smoke as
young men. The department gathered data through a 10,000-person
random phone survey.
The decline was greatest
among 18- to 24-year-old white
women who live in Manhattan, according to the study. Although the
Health Department does not have
an official explanation for this part
the trend, spokeswoman Sara Markt
said it may be because women are
more attentive to social issues.
“We don’t know, but some theories are that women are more sensitive about health issues and taking
care of themselves,” she said. She
added that recent information about
secondhand smoke could have contributed to the decrease because
women are “more sensitive to others.”
The department has not released any data about men yet.
Markt said a more complete report
on smoking will be released in the
next few weeks.
Reflecting this trend in the city,
data released by the university also
shows that smoking is down among
women at NYU.
Housing director Jennifer
Brown said that while 228 female
students identified themselves as
smokers in 2004, only 173 did so
in 2005. The 2005 data is the most
recent the university could provide
because smoking was officially
banned from all university residence halls in fall 2006.
Also, a university survey
conducted in conjunction with the
American College Health Association showed a drop in smoking
among female students. According to the data, provided by NYU
Health Center Medical Director
Carlo Ciotoli, 50 percent of female
students said they had not smoked
in the last 30 days in 2004, while
55 percent checked off the same answer in 2005 and 56 percent did in
2006.
Smoking can be particularly
bad for women because it can impact fertility and accelerate osteoporosis, Ciotoli said.
Overall, the university has
made several efforts that may have
contributed to a decrease in smoking for both men and women on
campus, residential education director Tom Ellett said. He added
that smoking was banned in the residence halls for “health purposes,”
because air flow in the buildings is
connected and smoke can travel.
Another successful university
initiative is the Health Promotion
Office’s “Quit and Win” program,
which offers free nicotine patches
and support from the behavioral
medicine team to students trying to
quit.
Several students interviewed,
however, doubted the effectiveness
of the university’s efforts to gauge
and discourage smoking among its
students.
“Those questionnaire things
I was always suspicious of,” CAS
senior Rachel Bursac said, referring
to housing surveys. “Most people
fill out those things with their parents.”
Stern freshman Justin Wan
said students shouldn’t smoke, but
smoking persists despite the university’s efforts to create a healthier
environment.
“Everyone does it [in the
dorms],” he said. “That’s why I’m
saying it’s not that effective.”
Although Markt, the health
department spokeswoman, cited social trends as a possible reason for
the decline, some female students
have other reasons for quitting.
CAS freshman Patricia Yee
said she stopped smoking, partly because her grandfather was a smoker
and died from cancer. Although
she knew the risks of smoking, that
wasn’t her main reason for quitting
three years ago.
“It was more the expense of
smoking, sadly,” she said.
Bursac said, however, that she
loved smoking, as many other female students still do.
“I like it,” Steinhardt sophomore Jenny Hall said. “When I’m
walking to class or walking to work,
I need a cigarette.”
Brittany residence hall desk
receptionist Alice Dale said she
smokes because “it relaxes me, believe it or not.” She said she even has
a smoking schedule.
“I have one in the morning, my
breakfast, one in the afternoon,” she
said. “That’s it.”
Although many males on campus said they did not mind women
who smoke, Wan said he would never date a girl who does.
“I don’t like smoking in general,” he said. “It’s very unattractive.”
Fewer female smokers, despite increased ads from tobacco
companies Despite the efforts of tobacco companies, a recent study by
the New York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene found
that the smoking rate among women fell four percentage points from
2002 to 2005.
In the past few years, tobacco
companies have more than doubled
their marketing budget, to more
than $15 billion each year, according to a statement from the health
department.
“Women are taking charge of
their health,” said Dr. Thomas R.
Frieden, the health commissioner,
said in the press release. “And for
tobacco companies, that’s bad news.
R.J. Reynolds’ new products are a
shameless effort to reverse the gains
women are making. The industry
is peddling lies that will disfigure,
maim, and kill girls and young
women.”
The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company’s Camel brand launched
a new cigarette last month -- Camel
No. 9, which is marketed toward
women and packaged in a pink and
black box.
Opinion/Editorial
6
Editorial
We believe that it is not in the best interest of the student
body for a department to be asking for, and receiving money
from the Student Government Association, especially funds
designated for student-run clubs and organizations. We find
it more troubling that a department would go to such great
lengths in soliciting funds, as to approach a student-run organization that months ago they wanted disbanded.
The Women’s Center is a department, just like The Counseling and Wellness Center; and as a department, we do not expect them to request funds for their events or operations from
a student-run organization. A department should not be denied
funding from a student-run organization simply because of
previous conflict between each group; however, it is unjust to
ask The Recorder, or any other club for that matter, for funding
just because of a departments lack of responsibility.
Last Thursday the SGA denied a last-minute request for
money to be put towards the Women’s Center event, Take Back
the Night. While we at The Recorder believe that Take Back
the Night is an admirable and important event to bring to the
Central Connecticut community, we also believe in accountability. As a department of so-called professionals, we would
hope that the Center would be capable of asking for money in
a timely fashion.
The same organization that obviously isn’t capable of
minimally requesting funds, never mind maintaining a wellorganized department, believes students are not capable of
spearheading Take Back the Night. We find it amusing that the
same department that believes students cannot run this yearly
event consistently asks for student money. Not only have they
been requesting money from the SGA’s pool of money allocated for student clubs, but now, two months after their demands
for this publication to cease printing, they have approached us
for financial help.
We are glad that the SGA did not fulfill the Women’s Center request for funding, but we hope that the denial was for
the right reasons, that being what we stated earlier. We expect
that the reasoning behind the rejection was not just because
the SGA no longer had any money to give out, or because the
request was made at the last possible minute. Instead, we hope
this is a step in the right direction, and the money SGA grants
its student clubs goes only to that.
As previously stated, Take Back the Night is a significant
yearly event. We are optimistic that the event will be successful despite what contributions come from student-run organizations. It is time for the University to step up, and also to be
accountable for its own departments; no longer should departments be harassing the SGA, The Recorder or any other source
of student funds. The department themselves should be as responsible as they expect student-run organizations to be.
Go Home, Dan Rather Political Theater
Todd Szabo
Justin Kloczko
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
It looks like Dan Rather needs
some money and a new image.
Rather, the ostracized CBS journalist, is coming out of the woodwork
to salvage what he can of his bizarre
and unfortunate career in journalism
with a tour of lectures that will land
in Central tonight.
Yes, Rather used to be a hot shot
in his day. In the 80s, he tried to boost
ratings by ditching those dull, navy
blue ties for more trendy ones, while
flattering American audiences with
cute punch lines like, “don’t shake the
pee pee yet, this contest is still flowing.” He was Tucker Carlson’s biggest
inspiration.
Rather was cunning and impressive as a youth. When Nixon fielded
a question from the young reporter to
applause, he asked Rather, “Are you
running for something?” Rather darted back with, “No, sir, Mr. President.
Are you?” But that was 1974. Today,
both men’s lives will be forever associated with that one, death kiss of a
word - Gate.
It will be interesting to hear
what candor Mr. Rather will serenade
Central with. The precise moment in
time he decided to end each broadcast
with the word “courage” amongst
crickets and scratching heads? The
eye opening experience when he got
his ass beat for no apparent reason by
some random thugs to the taunting of
“what’s the frequency Kenneth?” in
front of the CBS building? Or will it
be a lesson in journalistic integrity?
I doubt he will talk about the lesson
he learned about breaking the golden
rule of journalism - telling the truth.
I’m sure the $85 reception and
dinner, munching on Sodexho burgers that taste like cardboard, and
chicken that tastes like tuna, will go
well with Rather reminiscing about
his days when he made moms around
their television sets blush, coining
phrases like, “He swept through the
South like a tornado through a trailer
park” and “This election swings like
one of those pendulum things.” I can
just picture the audience eating up
every minute of it, choking on their
Illustration by John Pritchett
sparkling apple cider out of laughter,
and feeling like this is the best thing
they’ve done in years. It will be that
type of crowd.
It’s just too bad Rather got so
desperate to nail President Bush that
he stained his reputation, and that of
CBS. Cutting corners with a forged
document that alleged George W.
Bush skipped out on service in the
Navy was something that seemed
like it could easily be true, but Rather
allegedly knew the documents were
fake, and ran the story anyway.
I mean, could a guy 40-plus
years in the business seriously be
duped by a forged, Microsoft Word
document? Come on Dan, you’re
better than that. I mean, you seem
like a nice guy, besides that time you
tried ditching a cab and screamed
you were being kidnapped because
the cabby wouldn’t let you out when
you refused to pay. Or that time you
walked off the set of CBS Evening
News at the expense of six minutes of
dead air; Cronkite thought you should
If you have any questions or comments concerning The Recorder, please feel free to send a letter to the Editor at
[email protected]
Letters must include a name and should not be much longer than
200 words. The Recorder reserves the right to edit letters.
have been gone then. It makes me sad Dan, you had
some good times—pushing the buttons of the elder Bush, all those
champagne hangovers. It must have
been tough with the ghosts of Murrow and Cronkite breathing down
your back. Who knows, maybe it was
the hands at be for CBS who were the
ones that purged your position in this
crazy world we live in as a pawn for
profit.
You might have been traded
out.
You may never know, I mean, it
could have been a reverse, orchestrated P.R. stunt by the Bush Administration to make you look desperate. The
world will never know a lot of things,
Dan, like why Nixon had to have a
liquid infatuation with gin, or who
was really behind the assassination
of Kennedy. He was only 46.
A lot of people will probably
look forward to your words of wisdom, but as for me, I’d Rather-not.
I have a simple question to
ask. Why is it utterly important to
analyze whether a presidential candidate is “black enough,” or other
personal facts, like if he has been
divorced? It is more important to examine what policy these candidates
advocate when dealing with Iran,
China, Iraq and several other developing world countries that could potentially cause threat to the United
States, than to know about their best
friend from high school, who is now
living out of a car. Presidential candidates are judged and scrutinized
like we are at a dog show, trying
to find which trainer has the best
poodle.
The “values voter” is extremely important in modern presidential
debates. The “values voters,” I believe, would have strongly supported Dennis Rader, who was active in
his church, had a wife and kids and
seemingly lived a wholesome life;
that is, up until he was found to be
the infamous BTK killer.
In my estimation, it doesn’t
matter whether or not you have
kids, whether you are married or not
and whatever else. As the example
above shows, just because you have
what seems like a perfect family, it
doesn’t actually mean that you do.
It is important that a presidential
candidate be regal, moral and composed; after all, he is in the race to
take the job of “the leader of the free
world.”
However, I don’t understand
why the candidates play to the “values voters,” when 50 percent of the
population is divorced, and attendance at church in America is at an
all-time low. Given the latest statistics, it is obvious that the “values
voter” and the evangelicals, do not
actually speak for a majority of the
population. So, why then is it so important to impress the evangelicals
and the “values voters?” The reason
these voters are given such weight
is, of course, because these are the
people who vote in the primaries,
and in the general elections; they do
so in droves.
The point is that the election is
flawed simply because of the inconsistency of this situation. I think it
is blatantly obvious that we live in
challenging times, where there are
hundreds of important issues that
need serious people to examine
and evaluate what the right step is.
Therefore, it is irrelevant to scrutinize and evaluate what sort of marriage a candidate has, what kind of
childhood they had, what school
they went to and how much discrimination they have suffered, as in the
case of Barack Obama.
Instead of scrutinizing every
part of a candidate’s life - their ethnicity, marital status and the like, it
would be refreshing to have a campaign about the issues, and not just
to simply give the term lip service.
Simply put, this Democrat is simply
sick and tired of election politics
status quo. My belief is that things
need to change drastically. Instead
of focusing on inane topics, reporters need to research and write about
what a $100 billion campaign will
do to the process of a presidential
election.
Clarification:
In last week’s issue of The Recorder we
listed the number of American military, as
well as the Iraqi police and military death
count at the time of printing. We apologize
for any confusion the labeling of the number may have caused.
Karyn Danforth
7
Suffocating In DiLoreto
Stephanie Maldonado
Staff Writer
mccullagh.org
Richard Blumenthal filed a brief supporting Berlin and it’s battle against VIP.
Soften Up, Dick
Stephanie Bergeron
Opinion Editor
State Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal filed a brief in federal
court supporting Berlin in its legal
battle against Very Intimate Pleasures
on March 19, according to the Hartford Courant.
VIP is an adult store chain that
specializes in massage oils, lingerie,
gag gifts, “dirty” shot glasses, “sexually explicit DVDs, books, magazines
and sex-positive and sex-enhancing
novelties and products,” said Dan Silver, VIPs attorney.
Sex-positive and sex-enhancing
doesn’t sound bad to me, Richard.
Can I call you Dick?
VIP is looking to open another
of its sex-themed shops on the Berlin Turnpike, which impedes an area
of middle-class homes, according to
the Hartford Courant. The town statute forbids the building of adult businesses within 250 feet of residentially
owned property.
The laws were made by prudes,
and Dick, being an erotophobe, supports the statute to its fullest. Dick
feels that the probable building of VIP
on the pike “is a matter of significant
statewide concern.” The building of
VIP also threatens statutes in other
towns, similar to that of Berlin’s.
The complaints against VIP
opening on the pike are hypocritical.
If you have ever driven down it, you
would notice other adult businesses
being located nearby residential areas. Although I have not measured
whether they are 250 feet away from a
nearby playground or house, they are
extremely, I repeat, extremely close
by.
Not only are there other adult
businesses like Discount Adult Video
and Amazing, but the pike is known
for its obscene amount of cheesy, murder-infested, drug-infested, mirrors
on the ceiling, semen on the rarely,
if ever, cleaned sheets, and disgusting collection of “pick which room
you want from the pictures behind the
barred concierge desk” motels.
Most of the motels are up and
running, and believe you me; these
motels are used for only two things:
sex and drugs. I used to work at a
photo place on the pike that recently
closed. It was a privately owned franchise that allowed the printing of
risky photos; of course, there was a
catch. We had to look through every
picture to make certain no children
were in them. Working there for five
years, we never encountered problems
with adolescent sex, but I’ve seen my
fair share of what happens in those
motels, and it’s not pretty.
In other words, Dick, stop wasting your time trying to prevent VIP
from opening, you are beginning to
live up to your name. Start closing
down some of those motels you used
to stay at when you were underage,
and needed a place to drink in your
heyday. Those are the places causing
more trouble for families, with parents having to pick up their drunken
kids after the cops show up.
According to the Hartford Courant, even the Supreme Court has
helped to uphold ordinances that
regulate sexually oriented businesses
to prevent adverse secondary effects.
What are these secondary effects,
Dick? Teens having sex before marriage? If they want to have sex, they
are going to have sex. VIP sells condoms, they are adding to the notion of
safe sex; nothing is wrong with that.
And what could opening the store
possibly do to married adults? Seeing
as though the store will be going in a
middleclass neighborhood, I would
assume the majority of citizens living there are married. Maybe a little
sex toy here and there can boost the
marriage, give it a fresh start. Statistics say 52 percent of marriages end
in divorce these days. Maybe a little
adventure would help.
VIP is one of the classier adult
businesses around here; I mean, compared to Discount Adult Video and
Amazing, VIP is a breath of fresh air
- literally and figuratively. Discount
and Amazing are two of the sketchiest, dirtiest places I’ve ever been to.
A friend of mine works at VIP on
Brainard Road, and has been working there for quite a few years now.
When I asked her for her opinion on
the safety issues and the cleanliness
of VIP, she laughed, mockingly. She
said there are male workers who sub
as “bodyguards.” If anyone looks or
behaves strangely, or harasses women, they are kicked out immediately.
And regards with the cleanliness, it
is very clean there. No sex toys are
allowed to be brought in the fitting
rooms, and there is always someone
standing guard in front of it to make
sure that rule is followed.
I do not frequent
adult businesses often, but
I enjoy a good laugh when
I become utterly stupefied
over things I could never
deem as possible. Those
of you who have been
there know exactly what I
mean. VIP is always there
for not only a laugh, but
also a great gag gift for a
just-turned, over-the-hill
friend, or parent, if you
have that solid relationship where you can joke
about sex.
Dick is hardening up
on the issue. According to
the Hartford Courant, he
even went as far as to assure residents at a community-organized meeting in
Berlin that “the state is
with you as a partner in
this effort.” Oh Dick, don’t
be such a pussy. The community, along with you,
does not have to go hiding
in your bomb shelters; this
isn’t the end of the world,
it is just a sassy sex shop.
Now grow some balls,
Dick.
I never thought I was claustrophobic until I entered my class in
DiLoreto Hall. Based on my experience from last semester, I knew getting to class early was the best option if I wanted a good seat, but what
was to come was above and beyond
what I had initially expected.
In this room, or closet I should
say, were 36, 30”x 19” chairs
crammed into an itty bitty space. “Is
this for real,” I thought to myself,
while taking a seat in the front corner by the window, where my shoulder was less than a foot away from
the board.
As the other students piled in,
I lay my head in my hands hoping
that the next one would be the last.
It wasn’t until every single last chair
was occupied that the migration
stopped; even the teacher thought it
was too corroded. As the many students who were, or are still in those
classrooms know, there was a lot of
moving around in the beginning.
Some for the better and some for the
worse.
I escaped from one class, but
another class of mine still remains
on the third floor of that fire hazard
deathtrap. As time went on, I sometimes got to class a little later than
when the class first began. I would
have to then squeeze in somewhere,
and pray that my book bag didn’t
catch some unsuspecting victim’s
hair and drag her along behind me.
As I made my way to the last and
only seat available, directly in the
middle of the pile of student bodies
occupying the room, there was less
than seven inches of space between
each table max, and that’s primarily
when they’re empty.
I could barely breathe in there,
let alone be in a comfortable atmosphere to learn, as I’m sure many
other students can relate to. Sometimes a table would be blocking half
the door on my way back from a
break, and I kept thinking to myself,
“That can’t be safe.” If there were
a fire, I’m sure that with the little
space we’d have left to get out, we’d
all charge for the door at the same
time. Ultimately, we’d look like a
box of straws turned over on its side
with our legs wiggling in a desperate
attempt to get out of the door.
I pleaded with my instructor for
a bigger classroom, but he insisted
that if he went to the person responsible for classroom designations,
they would decline his request immediately. The person responsible
would claim that there were enough
seats in the classroom for every student; thus, we did not need anymore
room.
If I thought taking a class in
DiLoreto was bad during the winter
with its pounds of gloves, scarves
and other winter necessities that
go along with it, I shudder at the
thought of warmer temperatures. A
37 person headcount crammed into a
27x16-foot room sounds insane, not
to mention the fact that the windows
pull inward at a 45 degree angle, creating very little air-circulation. What
can we do about this though?
Although not all of the classrooms in DiLoreto adhere to such
poor standards - some of them being
more spacious, it is silly to assume
that 36 seats in an extremely small
room is an appropriate learning environment. To also assume that because all 36 desks fit inside when
crammed in one next to the other,
that it will be comfortable for the
students - who come in all shapes
and sizes, is ignorant.
As many can tell, this classroom arrangement clearly does not
work. Knock down some of the walls
for crying out loud, and if you’re
worried about decreasing available
classrooms - build another floor. I
don’t care what you do, as long as
you fix this asinine situation. Have
some consideration for the students
that pay to be here, and have some
common sense.
Sports
8
Blue Devil Softball
CCSU Baseball
Goes 3-0 Last Week Split Last Two Doubleheaders
Mike Krafcik
Staff Writer
The CCSU baseball team finished this week 3-0, with a doubleheader sweep against Vermont and
win against Fairfield last Thursday.
The team now sits at 8-3 overall and
begins its NEC regular season schedule at home against Sacred Heart on
Thursday.
3/27: Game One vs. Vermont,
W 7-0: The Blue Devils scored six
runs in the first inning on four hits
and a pair of errors. Sophomore
Richie Tri got it started with a walk
and scored on a Jay Schillaci double
giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.
Tri in his second at-bat in the inning
hit a two run single, driving in John
Romano and Garrett Walker. Central
was led by stellar pitching; Junior
John Tesseyman pitched a complete
game four-hit shutout in route to his
first win of the year. Tesseyman retired the side in order three times and
retired the final 10-of-11 Vermont
batters.
3/27: Game Two vs. Vermont,
W 10-3: Vermont jumped out to a 20 lead in the top of the fourth when
Central starter Adam Piechowski
walked his third batter of the inning forcing in a Catamount run.
Central responded in the bottom
of the fourth with three runs, B.K.
McLaughlin made it a 3-2 after a
double to centerfield which scored
Matt Memoli. McLaughlin finished
2-for-3 with three RBIs including a
two-run double which gave Central
a 5-3 lead. Central went on to score
seven runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Piechowski (2-0) pitched six complete innings to receive the win.
3/30: vs. Fairfield, W 11-2: Jack
Kidd went 2-for-2 with four RBIs including a double and a triple. Kidd’s
three-run triple highlighted a sixrun third inning in which Central’s
first six batters reached base. Senior
John Romano added two RBIs in the
bottom of the fourth to stretch the
lead to 11-1. Sophomore Ken Kerski
pitched five innings allowing only
two hits and one run while striking
out five and improves to 2-1.
Alex Carr
Sports Editor
The Lady Blue Devils went 24 last week and are currently 5-19
overall with a 2-2 Northeast conference record. After having lost the last
two road games the Blue Devils will
look to rebound against Holy Cross
in a doubleheader at Worcester, Massachusetts.
3/28 Marist Doubleheader - L
(6-0), L (6-0) Last Wednesday the
Lady Blue Devils visited Marist in
an in-conference contest. Though
Central dropped both games, the Red
Foxes jumped out to an early start in
the first contest scoring five runs in
the second inning. Marist would also
hold CCSU to five hits. In the bottom
of the sixth inning, Marist would
pad their lead scoring another run.
In game two, senior Pam Shifrin and
freshman Jaclyn Logan witnessed
their nine-game hit streaks come to
an end as Melissa Pelletier extended
her own streak to nine. Tough pitching dominated the afternoon as Red
Fox hurlers Kristen Merlino and Me-
gan Rigos combined to allow only
three hits. With the game scoreless
until the fourth inning, sophomore
Rachel Brenneman gave up two
home runs. Marist would eventually
score four more runs in the sixth inning blanking the Blue Devils.
3/31 Mount St. Mary’s Doubleheader - W (7-2), L (2-0) In the
home opener last Saturday CCSU
rebounded from a rough road trip in
splitting a double against the Mount.
Rachel Brenneman pitched a complete game in the first contest striking
out 10. Mount St. Mary’s would take
the early lead scoring a run in the top
of the second inning and another in
the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth,
Central was able to manufacture
three runs taking the 3-2 lead. In the
sixth inning the Blue Devils would
earn insurance runs sparked by a
double by senior Allie Falco.
In game two, junior Samantha
Keltos nearly pitched a no-hitter until the bottom of the fourth when a
homer was given up to Mount sophomore Kelly Seger. In the fifth inning,
Mount St. Mary’s would score once
Tillman’s Death is a Reminder to All
Alex Carr
Sports Editor
Too often sports stories are saturated with tales of athletes who have been
anointed as god-like beings on the field
while being cast as ungrateful thugs outside of the sports arena. From the melee
at the Palace at Auburn Hills to the escapades of player’s such as the Tennessee Titan’s cornerback Adam “Pacman”
Jones, media outlets are littered with the
same old stories. The American media
and perhaps the fans as well, have mastered the art of building athletes up before vilifying them later on. Rarely do
we hear of stories that focus on the positive aspects of our sports heroes.
In 2004, however, one story managed to break the far too familiar mold
of the vilified athlete. Bypassing a $1.2
million contract to join the Army Rangers, former Arizona Cardinals defensive back Pat Tillman emerged from the
soiled image of the star athlete to serve
his country. Inspired by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Tillman
shirked publicity for his actions, while
his heroism sent shockwaves throughout
the country.
As sports fans, sometimes we become consumed and insulated by what
we presume to be the stereotypical
sports star. Labeling miraculous plays
and clutch performances as heroic, we
forget what real heroism entails. Not
only did Tillman allow sports fans to
snap out of their naïve concept of heroism, but he inspired many Americans.
On April 22, 2004 Pat Tillman was
pronounced dead in an attempt to secure the Afghan border. Since the tragic
loss, however, it has been revealed that
Tillman’s death was not the direct result
of enemy fire; rather, he was murdered
accidentally by members of his own platoon. Just recently it has been revealed
that the military initiated a cover up to
conceal the manner in which Tillman
was killed. As possibly the greatest public relations tool the American military
more taking game two of the doubleheader. Having left several runners
stranded throughout the game, the
Lady Blue Devils failed to score.
Mellissa Pelletier would lead the
Devils on the afternoon having connected on five hits and two RBI.
4/1 Monmouth Doubleheader
- L (11-2), W (7-4) Central fell behind early in the first game of the
doubleheader. Though Alison Rossi
and Pam Shifrin hit back-to-back
homers in the sixth inning, it was not
enough to win the game. Melissa Pelletier also saw an 11-game hit streak
come to an end in game one.
In game two, Rachel Brenneman
was able to pick up her fourth win of
the season which is also a team high.
In the second game, the Devils were
able to turn the tables on their opponent scoring two runs in the second
inning, three in the third, and two
in the fourth. Pelletier was also able
to start another streak in this game
going 2-for-3 and scoring a run.
Brenneman allowed three earned
runs on seven hits in the game. She
now has an overall record of 4-6.
Blue Devil
Shorts
Football Releases 2007 Schedule
Reuters
msnbc.com
Pat Tillman turned down a $1.2 million NFL contract to join the Army Rangers.
He died in 2004 because of friendly fire, but the details of his death were first hidden.
had in the deployment of an NFL star
who ignored a million dollar contract in
addition to stardom, the revelation that
Tillman was killed by “friendly fire”
was inexcusable.
There is no question that Tillman
remains a hero and an inspiration to all
Americans and should be honored accordingly. The manner in which Tillman
had been used after his death to promote
the government’s agenda is despicable.
Whether one is for or against the war is
irrelevant in this case but what stands
out are the false pretenses in which Tillman was used to market the war.
Not only has the Tillman family
been especially vocal in their displeasure with having been lied to, they are
livid with the fact that they continue to
be lied to by military officials. Granted
that it may not have been wise to inform
the family initially that Tillman’s death
was the result of so-called friendly fire,
but it’s the family’s right to eventually
know how and why they lost a loved one.
Surely this is not the first time a soldier
has been killed by friendly fire but this
prominent case is a sharp reminder that
war is never pleasant.
Upcoming
Events
Here are all of the scheduled Blue
Devil home and local games until
our next issue on April 11.
Thursday, April 5
Baseball vs Sacred Heart, 3 p.m.
Friday, April 6
Softball at Quinnipiac, 12 p.m.
Softball at Quinnipiac, 2 p.m.
Baseball vs Sacred Heart, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 7
Lacrosse vs St. Marys, 12 p.m.
Second year head coach Jeff McInerney and the Central Connecticut football team released its 2007 schedule. The Blue Devils
will play six home games and five games on the road, returning
to an 11-game schedule for the third straight season. Highlighting
the 2007 schedule is the first-ever game versus a Division I-A opponent for Central Connecticut. CCSU will travel to Kalamazoo,
Michigan to play Western Michigan University, a member of the
Mid-American Conference, on Saturday, September 22 at 7 p.m.
The game will mark the first-ever game for an NEC team versus a
Division I-A opponent. The Blue Devils, who finished last season
8-3 overall, open the season on Thursday night, August 30 on the
road at Towson University at 7 p.m.
(credit: CCSUBlueDevils.com)
Soccer Signs Brown to NLI for 2007
Chris Brown signed his National Letter of Intent to join the
Central Connecticut men’s soccer program in the fall of 2007, as
announced by Blue Devil head coach Shaun Green. A native of
the Isle of Man in Great Britain, Brown comes to New Britain
following an impressive career with the Laxey Football Club. He
will join fellow Englishmen Jonathan Agbatar, Paul Armstrong,
Andrew Cooper, Yan Klukowski and David Tyrie on the CCSU
roster.
Brown, who is currently competing with the Isle of Man National Senior Team, scored 33 goals in 29 games as a Laxey player.
As the league’s top scorer, he helped lead Laxey to victory in every major title on the island.
“Chris is an amazingly strong, quick athletic center forward,” Paul Bridson, his club coach, said. “He is likely the youngest player to achieve top scorer status in our club, but his ability to
create for his teammates is just as impressive. He certainly comes
with my stamp of approval.” (credit: CCSUBlueDevils.com)
Lacrosse Tops St. Francis (PA)
Central Connecticut (2-7, 1-3) got three goals from both senior Abby Hayes and freshman Eve Belardinelli in a 15-8 Northeast Conference win at St. Francis (PA). Freshman Lauren Paolillo
added two goals and three assists, while Hayes had two assists to
lead Central with five points apiece. Sophomore Alice Lee made
12 saves to earn the win for the Blue Devils, who will return to
action on Saturday, April 7 versus Mount St. Mary’s in home conference play. (credit: CCSUBlueDevils.com)
9
National League MLB Preview
Alex Carr
Sports Editor
Peter Collins
Staff Writer
NL East
New York Mets
Pitching: The success of the
Mets’ pitching staff relies on many
uncertainties. Pitchers Tom Glavine
and Orlando Hernandez head the top
of the rotation leading with intelligence, leadership and a plethora of
experience. The veteran pair should
have enough left in their tanks to
help the Mets’ World Series push.
Left handed hurler Oliver Perez will
have to improve his consistency in
lowering his 6.55 ERA from last season. Right hander John Maine will
also have to prove that he can continue his unforeseen success of the
2006 season in the ’07.
Hitting: Sporting an impressive
lineup, the Mets should have little
trouble generating runs this season.
New York has power and speed in
its line-up. Jose Reyes will surely
continue his pace of 64 stolen bases
from last season while MVP candidates Carlos Beltran and Carlos
Delgado will provide plenty of firepower. Catcher Paul Lo Duca, David
Wright, and Moises Alou are also
dangerous hitters that will keep opposing pitchers sweating.
Philadelphia Phillies
Pitching: After having been
the downfall of the Phillies in the
past, Philadelphia may finally have a
pitching staff that can make a difference this season. Righty Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, and the aging lefty
Jamie Myers steady the Philly rotation while newcomers Freddy Garcia
and Adam Eaton look to sure up the
rotation.
Hitting: Returning a lineup that
was tops in the National League in
runs scored last season, the Phillies
will be a formidable foe for the rest
of the NL. Returning NL MVP Ryan
Howard (58 homers and 149 RBI)
will continue belting home runs and
collecting RBIs this season. Chase
Utley and Pat Burrell are beyond solid as they come together to form one
of the scariest tandems in the middle
of an NL order.
Atlanta Braves
Pitching: John Smoltz and Tim
Hudson anchor the Braves’ pitching staff with 3.49 and 4.86 ERAs,
respectively. As long as left hander
Chuck James can continue to maintain a decent 3.78 ERA the Braves
will be a contender in the National
League.
Hitting: 23-year-olds Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur are two of
the best young players in the league.
Combining for 196 RBI and 53 homers in the 2006 season, the Braves
will be able to rely on a continued
balanced offensive attack to add to
Edgar Renteria, Chipper Jones and
Andruw Jones.
Florida Marlins
Pitching: The Marlins may not
be quite ready to do significant damage this season but they have stockpiled enough young pitchers to make
things interesting. Ace Dontrelle
Willis along with Anibal Sanchez
and Scott Olsen all have ERAs under
4.04 and should improve this season.
Righty Henry Owens (1.58 ERA) and
lefty Taylor Tankersley (2.85 ERA)
help to secure the Marlins bullpen.
Hitting: Reigning NL Rookie of
the year Hanley Ramirez will only
improve from his .292 batting average, 59 RBI, 17 home runs, and 51
stolen bases. Dan Uggla and Miguel
Cabrera will also lead one of the
less potent orders in the National
League.
Washington Nationals
Pitching: With the departures
of Livan Hernandez, Tony Armas
and Ramon Ortiz, the Nationals
have little to rely on in the pitching
staff. 6’11” flamethrower Jon Rauch
has the potential to boost the team’s
shoddy pitching staff yet that potential is highly uncertain.
Hitting: Losing Alfonso Soriano
from a lineup that is one of the worst
in the majors certainly doesn’t help
the Nationals aspirations for success.
Don’t expect much from this patchwork line-up.
NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitching: Say goodbye and
good riddance to Jason Marquis,
Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver. If not
for their sudden playoff turnaround
no one would be worried about the
departure of these three guys, two of
which (Weaver and Marquis) had an
ERA over 5.00. The Cards still have
the only pitcher that matters in Chris
Carpenter. To supplement Carpenter
the Cards will look for some youth
to step up. Both Anthony Reyes and
Adam Wainwright stepped up in a
big way during the postseason last
year and both should be upgrades for
the rotation. The other big key for St.
Louis will be the health of closer Jason Isringhausen who has had major
surgery on his shoulder in 2003 and
his hip last year.
Hitting: Albert the Great leads
this balanced attack. David Eckstein
will be leading off for Pujols who
will be surrounded by the developing power of Chris Duncan and the
steady bats of veterans Jim Edmonds
and Scott Rolen. Yadier Molina will
need a big jump in batting average
this year after being a void at the
back end of the order. The free agent
addition of Adam Kennedy should
remove that question mark that has
been hovering over second base the
past two seasons.
Chicago Cubs
Pitching: This season the Cubs
appear to be looking to escape their
perpetually injury ridden pitching
staff. Having acquired Ted Lilly and
Jason Marquis, Chicago may have
yet another one of its beloved teams
in a World Series in the 2000s. Ace
Carlos Zambrano will lead the Cubs’
surge towards the ’07 championship.
Hitting: Adding superstar Alfonso Soriano will prove to be a big
step in fortifying the Chicago lineup
this season. The additions of Mark
Derosa and Cliff Floyd will add some
needed power to the order while
Jacque Jones, Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez provide consistency.
The combination of a powerful batting order and a strengthened pitching staff make the Cubs a viable opponent for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Houston Astros
Pitching: The pitching hopes of
the Houston Astros this season will
rely upon the ability of closer Brad
Lidge. Last season, Lidge went 1-5
finishing with a 5.28 ERA. If Lidge
cannot return to his 2005 form, Houston will struggle as they do not have
much depth in their pitching staff.
Hitting: An average lineup
headed by Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee will look to provide a spark to the Houston offense.
The Astros’ ability to manufacture
runs will be crucial to their success.
Milwaukee Brewers
Pitching: Ben Sheets has always
had the power arm to be an ace. What
he has lacked the past two seasons is
ace durability. If Sheets can rediscover his health then the sky may be the
limit for this young Brewers rotation.
Chris Capuano and Jeff Suppan will
follow Sheets and try to improve a
team ERA that was the second worst
in the NL. Francisco Cordero will try
to add on to his impressive first stint
as the Milwaukee closer.
Hitting: Prince Fielder will
be the crown jewel of the Brewer’s
lineup. The Brewers will need a big
increase in production for an offense
the scored the third fewest runs in the
NL last year. Rickie Weeks will have
to try and stay healthy for a full season and the Brewers will need more
offense off the bench from Kevin
Mench. They’ll also need Bill Hall to
provide more of the same after piling
up 35 homers last year.
Cincinnati Reds
Pitching: Perhaps the most important factor in the Reds’ postseason
hopes will hinge upon the successes
of Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang. Combining for a 30-22 record
and a 3.53 ERA, the two will have to
continue their workhorse paces for
any postseason charge.
Hitting: Though the Reds led
the league in homers at 217 last season, they failed to score a significant
amount of runs. Hitting a measly
.257 team average last year, Cinci
will have to earn a more consistent
average if they have any hopes in
avoiding last place in the division.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitching: If your team was in
a slump last year the place to go
was Pittsburgh. No team in the NL
allowed a higher batting average
against them than the Pirates whose
opponents hit at a .281 clip. They’ll
need a big improvement from Zach
Duke and they need the same consistency from Ian Snell. Salomon Torres will have a hard time following in
Mike Gonzales’s footsteps but he’ll
have the benefit of solid setup man
Damaso Marte.
Hitting: Only one team in baseball hit fewer homeruns last season
than Pittsburgh. With Jason Bay as
the only legitimate homerun threat
the Pirates went out and traded for
rising first baseman Adam LaRoche.
LaRoche will provide a big time
power bat to go along with Bay and
NL batting champ Freddie Sanchez.
The Pirates also have up and coming
prospect Andrew McCutchen waiting in the wings if centerfielder Chris
Duffy has a slow start.
NL West
big bucks to pitch for the Dodgers
and will add a power fastball to compliment Penny’s. Randy Wolf may
be the sleeper pick of the year. After
recovering from elbow surgery Wolf
is looking good this spring. Takashi
Saito rounds out a steady bullpen
that also includes power arm Jonathon Broxton.
Hitting: The Dodgers will need
some aged veterans to rediscover
their power strokes. LA ranked second worst in the NL last for homers,
knocking only 153 out of the park.
This year doesn’t look too much better after the loss of J.D. Drew. LA
will be hoping for more from young
star in the making Andre Ethier and
for a full season out of Wilson Betemit. Among the weapons the Dodgers will use to drive opponents nuts
will be the skilled base running of
Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre. The
two managed to swipe 95 bags between themselves and could easily
push that to over 100.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Pitching: The D-Backs rotation
may not frighten you, but they’re
good. Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb anchors the staff with a
devastating sinker that induced third
most ground balls in baseball. Randy Johnson should recapture some
youth after back surgery and along
with Doug Davis will give them two
quality lefties. The bullpen may be
shaky unless young closer Jose Valverde can learn to hit the strike zone
more consistently.
Hitting: This lineup is young
but could be very deep. Arizona will
look for first baseman Conor Jackson
to keep developing his power stroke
while rookie outfielder Chris Young
gets his first shot at the big club.
Sophomore shortstop Stephen Drew
will try to keep up his impressive
numbers from a short rookie season
and live up to his high expectations
San Diego Padres
Pitching: The Padres rotation
spans generations of great pitchers.
Chris Young and Jake Peavy are tops
in their young class of pitchers while
the back end rotation will benefit
from all-time great Greg Maddux
and all-time hot dog eating champion
David Wells. The game doesn’t get
any easier for Padres opponents once
the game goes to the bullpen either.
All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman leads a strong pen that includes
Scott Linebrink and young standout
Cla Meredith.
Hitting: The Giles Brothers
will look to get things started for
the Padres this season as Marcus
Giles joins brother Brian in their
hometown. The Padres have a young
developing lineup led by smooth
swinging first baseman Adrian Gonzales who broke out in his first full
season. Another break out player was
catcher Josh Bard who hit .338 with
nine homers in only 231 at bats. Bard
won the San Diego starting job after
an early season escape from Boston
and Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball.
San Diego also has major power potential in rookie third baseman Kevin
Kouzmanoff who came over in the
Josh Barfield trade with Cleveland.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies
Pitching: The Dodgers may end
up with one of the better rotations
this season. Veteran Derek Lowe and
youngster Brad Penny anchor a staff
that will boast two new free agent
acquisitions. Jason Schmidt followed
Pitching: The Rockies have been
steady in their attempts at developing
pitching from within and the benefits are starting to show themselves.
Aaron Cook may have led the team
in innings pitched last season, but
Jeff Francis will continue to develop
into the staff ace. The Rockies used
trades to strengthen their rotation as
well. They brought in Rodrigo Lopez
who probably will not enjoy the benefits of the light-aired stadium, but
they also netted young stud Jason
Hirsh from the Astros.
Hitting: Todd Helton may be
fading but the Rockies will have
plenty of offense to make up for any
deficiency that may arise. The outfield will provide everything from
explosive speed in Willy Taveras to
monster power in Matt Holliday and
Brad Hawpe. They’re solid around
the infield as well starting with young
catcher Chris Iannetta.
San Francisco Giants
Pitching: Barry Zito found what
he was looking for in San Francisco
to the tune of $126 million. What else
will Barry find: a convalescent home
around the diamond and a nut job
in the back of the bullpen. The one
thing Zito may find familiar in San
Fran will be the youth movement in
the pitching staff. Matt Cain could be
the ace in a year or two while Noah
Lowry provides a cunning lefty for
the rotation. One thing everyone on
the Giants will worry about: Armando Benitez closing.
Hitting: Bonds, Bonds, and
more Bonds. There is nothing else
to talk about in this lineup. Last year
the Giants relied on career years
from Rich Aurilla and Ray Durham,
two things not likely to happen again.
Dave Roberts will provide a spark at
the top of the order, but without Barry in the middle this order couldn’t
scare a high school pitcher.
Record and Playoff
Predictions
NL East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies*
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
Washington Nationals
NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals
Chicago Cubs
Houston Astros
Milwaukee Brewers
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers
Arizona Diamondbacks
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(* Asterisks denotes wildcard)
NL Playoffs
NLDS: Phillies over Cardinals
NLDS: Dodgers over Mets
NLCS: Dodgers over Phillies
World Series
Indians over Dodges
Entertainment
10
Mika
Life In Cartoon Motion
Ted Ancher
Redman
Red Gone Wild (Thee Album)
Bright Eyes
Cassadaga
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Living with the Living
Staff Writer
Ed Gaug
Justin Kloczko
Karyn Danforth
Possibly one of the greatest musical acts
of the 21st century has emerged out of London.
Mika’s debut album Life in Cartoon Motion is
what music has been waiting for. His style is a
bit flamboyant, but it only makes the songs and
the playful lyrics more interesting and inspiring.
His first single “Grace Kelly” hit the top
spot in the British charts for five weeks, however due to being relatively unknown in the States,
“Grace Kelly” peaked at #76 here. Though this
track is one of the best on the album, it is by
far not his best. “Love Today” which you may
have heard on the Verizon Wireless commercials, is the next single and is far superior due
to the immediate hook at the beginning of the
song. This song keeps you moving.
As of right now, his biggest competition is
the Kaiser Chiefs, who recently released their
sophomore album and is probably the only other credible act coming from across the pond.
Their hit “Ruby” knocked “Grace Kelly” off
the top spot. This situation is very reminiscent
of the way it was back in the late 50’s and early
60’s when British acts were doing extremely
well in their native land, but were huge flops in
the United States.
It wasn’t until 1964 when The Beatles
broke the mold and headed what is now known
as the British Invasion. With his upcoming single “Love Today” Mika could single-handedly
begin a new one, especially with an album like
Life In Cartoon Motion.
As you dig deeper into the album you’ll
find that nearly every single song is very catchy
and is very easy to sing along to either by the
end of the song or by the second or third listen.
He’s being compared to greats such as
Nillson, Freddie Mercury of Queen, and Elton
John, which is not a bad thing. He has definitely proven that he can turn the classic sounds
of the 60’s and 70’s into contemporary classics
of today.
At times some songs can get syrupy such
as “Lollipop,” but for the most part are light and
tuneful, driven by strong melodies and a rollicking yet playful and tuneful piano. His talent for song craft, in my opinion, is unmatched,
and is a breath of fresh air for Britain and the
music world in general.
“Relax, Take it Easy” takes the melody of
the chorus from “(I Just Died) In Your Arms
Tonight” by the Cutting Crew and turns it into a
very far out catchy dance track, that if played at
clubs would be a surefire hit. However, he isn’t
all fun and games. He does get serious at times,
such as the insightful “My Interpretation” and
the personal and reflective “Any Other World,”
which has strings taken from The Beatles songbook.
If you’re sick and tired of today’s commercial pop scene, or are just tired of music in general, this album will reawaken your senses and
clean out the earwax build-up. Just because his
name isn’t Justin Timberlake doesn’t mean he
produces terrible music. He is worth giving a
try. Bottom line: Life in Cartoon Motion is, for
lack of a better term, ear candy.
If you walked by the radio station in the
past week or so, you have noticed those gigantic
green posters that are displaying the album art
for Redman’s newest album Red Gone Wild. I
noticed these posters too and now I’m listening
to it and letting you all know what I think. Talk
about successful advertising.
On a quick listen, this album doesn’t appear to be anything that’s too out of the ordinary for today’s hip hop scene and after a full
listen to Gone Wild is just that. There’s nothing
here to make me really get into the tracks and I
guess I’ve been spoiled with a lot of good hiphop before I decided to venture into reviewing
it.
The beats are overall pretty good, but
nothing that hasn’t been on a dozen records before. There are no standout beats like the new
Timbaland album. It definitely can’t compete
with the latest Nas album Hip-Hop Is Dead
because there is no standout single and there
aren’t any big collaborations on this album to
look forward to.
The lyrics on this album aren’t anything
to write home about either. Typical hip-hop
subject matter fills your ears when you listen to
Red Gone Wild. I don’t how many times someone could write an album talking about getting
high, getting his “D” wet and drinking “Henney.” While I’m not going to condemn any of
these activities, it’s just so typical when you listen to a radio-friendly hip-hop album.
With millions of dollars in record sales,
wouldn’t you do more with yourself than getting blazed in your living room and writing a
song entitled “Pimp Nutz”? Whatever Red, I
guess anything has to be better than that movie
How High and your show on Fox with Method
Man, yeah that’s right you had a sitcom on Fox
back a few years ago. You must have been real
high when you agreed to that shit.
The one thing that really shines through
on this album is the absolutely hilarious skits.
Most skits on hip-hop records are film samples
or story fillers; Redman really takes advantage
of these and turns them into three-minute comedies in the vain of Adam Sandler albums, but
way more ghetto and vulgar.
“Mr. Ice Cream Man” wins this by far, as it
is a back and forth argument between the local
angry ice cream man and a concerned mother.
With drug use accusations and your momma
jokes thrown around, it’s hard not to find yourself holding back a laugh or two.
Overall, if you want to listen something
mindless and pretty typical, give Redman’s new
album a listen and create your own opinions.
Instead of giving this thing another chance,
I’ll continue to wait for the new Ghostface
Killah/MF Doom collaboration and Wu-Tang’s
first full-length since Iron Flag back in 2001.
There are so many better things you can drop
15 bucks on right now. For that money, I would
have seen Immortal Technique two nights ago
in New Haven.
After six albums, five EPs, a Christmas,
live and b-sides album, with a punk band on the
side, one might call it a career. At 27, Conor
Oberst is just warming up.
Bright Eyes has always been a band you
either love or hate, an acquired taste. At the
core, Oberst has proven himself as a latter day
Guthrie. On their seventh album, Cassadaga,
the musical moniker that is Bright Eyes has
settled down to Oberst, long time multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike Mogis and
trumpeter and string arranger Nate Walcott.
Cassadaga still enlists Saddle Creek musicians
and special guests Gillian Welch, M. Ward and
Rachel Yamagata.
The songs on Cassadaga continue the
progression of Bright Eyes music, with each
album being very different from the last, but
still something chronological. Cassadaga, with
it references to séances, mystics and nature’s
wrath, encompasses a person traveling around
America in search of solace. If I had to compare
it to any of their previous work, it would be the
cinematic soundscape of Lifted, doused with a
psychedelic-country twinge.
Still, no Bright Eyes album would be complete without the foreboding prospect of the
world coming to an end. “Future markets, holy
wars / Been tried 10 thousand times before / If
you think that God is keeping score, Hooray!”
sets the tone for a vision of America that is wild
and unjust on “Clairaudients.”
The tradition in the first song on their albums as being sort of a “set-up” for the rest of
the songs continues here with the transition
into “Four Winds,” a song that kicks off the pilgrimage across America. “And I was off to old
Dakota where a genocide sleeps / In the Black
Hills, the Badlands, the calloused East / I buried my ballast. I made my peace.”
According to Oberst, he found solace in
the spiritualist community of Cassadaga, Florida. He said he received the same feeling people
get when they go to a place like Mecca.
On “If The Brakeman Turns My Way,”
Oberst addresses an interesting outlook in his
prolific writing. “All this automatic writing I
have tried to understand / From a psychedelic
angel who was tugging on my hand / It’s an infinite coincidence but it doesn’t form a plan.” The
assertion that his writing is ultimately a source
of something unexplainable and uncontrollable,
is a myth that goes back to Dylan, which the
writer is someone who is tapped by something
greater. I’ve often thought about this. Dylan
would many times not understand what he was
writing about, or where it came from. Some say
it was God. Oberst voices this same sentiment.
The loose distortion of “Coat Check
Dream Song” paints a great picture of someone
tripping on drugs in public, with “The ecstasy
still in my spine.” The musical apex of Cassadaga is captured in the pedal steel licked, “I
Must Belong Somwhere,” a song about just letting things be as they are. “Everything it must
belong somewhere / Just like the gold around
her finger or the silver in his hair / Everything
it must belong somewhere / I know that now,
that’s why I’m staying here.”
I spent the last half hour wondering if
there has ever been a bad review of Ted Leo
and the Pharmacists. Upon looking at several
reviews from Ted Leo’s adored fans, I tallied
up how many wrote of how his music evoked
feelings of springtime and natural highs. With
the majority exclaiming such, I needn’t look
any further to why this man makes everyone
cheerful.
In a metaphorical sense, Ted Leo is
springtime. If you don’t own one of his CDs
and are driving in your car without listening
to “Me & Mia” (off of the album Shake the
Sheets) you are not living life to its fullest.
Ted Leo is a true rock-and-roll musician.
With his fifth full-length album Living with
the Living being released on March 20, Ted
Leo is like a steadily increasing metabolism;
he shows no signs of slowing down. While I
don’t believe this to be the best album to date
coming from Ted and the Rx, with all the crap
out nowadays it certainly seems to shine over
it all.
Not everyone will understand how politically involved and driven the lyrics are, but
most will simply cherish it for how catchy, melodic and fun his music can be.
The album begins with a 30-second intro
entitled “Fourth World War,” and dives right
into the first track, “The Sons of Cain,” which
is a reference to the lineage of the Bush family
and how they have/and are currently controlling the White House. “So you’re gone now
and who’s to blame / left down here among the
Sons of Cain.”
“Army Bound” is a poignant account of
how for many, going into the army is the only
choice they have to make a modest living and
how it is a place where someone will “catch
you on your way down.” The last three lines
in the song ring through your head because
Ted Leo is defiance; he screams what he holds
true.
“Who Do You Love” is a sure fire hit,
for it is a song anyone could live their lives
by, with the triumphant “So the weight of the
world it won’t get you down / you make what
you wear and don’t wait around / you give
them what they want (or as much as you can)
/ like you’ve done all along and you’ll do it
again.”
I could definitely go onto point out song
by song many more intelligent lyrics because
each song are simply chock full of them. Some
other favorites to check out are “Colleen,”
“Bomb.Repeat.Bomb” and “La Costa Brava.”
This might possibly be one of the best
albums of the year, so I would definitely urge
you to purchase Living With the Living, along
with the album Shake The Sheets. Lay outside,
have a cold drink, blare Ted Leo, rock out, and
repeat.
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
11
Shadowgraphs
Shadowgraphs EP
Duncan Sanford
The Arcade Fire
Neon Bible
Dan Gray
Poison The Well
Versions
Edward Gaug
Timbaland
Timbaland Presents Shock Value
Mark Rowan
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Editor-in-Chief
Shadowgraphs refers to their music as a
“mixture of layered soundscapes.” After you
get past the ridiculousness of someone actually
using the phrase “mixture of layered soundscapes,” you come to realize it really is an accurate description of their sound.
This self-titled EP features a distinct sense
of multiple sounds somehow working both independently and together to create a unique and
pleasing overall sound.
Formally known around the Connecticut
scene as the indie band Eschellon, Shadowgraphs has existed in its current incarnation
since late 2005. For this relatively short lifespan, they have a remarkably cohesive and polished sound
Despite being only a three-member band,
Shadowgraphs presents a depth of sound, with
a mix of instrumentals, vocals and effects, none
of which feel lacking. The overall feel of the
music presents variety, as they appear to straddle genres ranging from folk rock to experimental ambience, but centered around a slower
indie rock.
Many of the songs on Shadowgraphs feel
like they could exist purely as instrumental
or vocal pieces. Especially true on the more
ambient tracks “P.S.” and “Ghosts,” one of the
charms of this album is how these elements,
which could easily be appreciated by themselves, come together to form a product greater
than the sum of its parts.
It is difficult to classify any of these songs
though, as they continue to shift and seemingly
evolve as the songs progress. With three of the
songs off this seven song album coming in at
over six minutes, there is plenty of time to pack
in everything, which prevents the songs from
seeming overly hectic. There is a certain calm
that is preserved, even on the more energetic
tracks.
In true keeping with being a unique and
provocative indie band, Shadowgraphs leads
off with a 48-second intro track entitled “Life,
Paranoia…” Packed with ominous piano and
mysterious spoken word, it sets the proper mood
of “what the hell,” while providing a seamless
transition into “Ghosts.” I’ve just never really
understood the point of the ridiculously short
intro track, but maybe that is why no one buys
my album.
One of the things I liked the most about
this album was its flow. Even the segue from
the more energetic “Revolving Doors,” to the
slowed down “Little Morning Wanderer,” and
from there to the ambient “The Storm That
Never Dies” is flawless. There is never the feel
that the tracks have just been compiled together,
they seem to have been crafted with sequence
in mind.
Shadowgraphs has put together a solid first
album that seems much more refined than most
first albums are. This Connecticut-based band
has a sound worth checking out, and Shadowgraphs is a great way to expose yourself to it.
I really wanted to like this album just because of the boldness and confidence the Arcade Fire has displayed throughout their history. They make music they want to hear, they
released a freshman album that got straight As
from critics in every musical background possible and they did it all without a record label.
Once again they self released an album, Neon
Bible, the follow-up to Funeral.
Neon Bible, however, is the most boring album I have listened to in years. It took a
very long time for Funeral to grow on me, but I
could tell from the beginning its genius would
eventually dawn on me. Neon Bible is difficult
to get through the first time and I have no intentions on trying to make that uncomfortable and
stuffy journey again. It reminded me of how I
felt when I was a little kid sitting in the back of
my grandparents’ smelly, beat-down car which
was so hot it made my skin chafe. I knew I had
to do it because that was what little kids did and
when it was over I could say I had paid my dues.
At least back then I would get a 20 dollar bill
from them when it was over.
The thing is, Arcade Fire didn’t try to
make an album better than Funeral. They
tried making an album that would stand on its
own, which is what was expected. That much
was understood by every fan and critic. They
aren’t a band who follow anyone else’s formula
for success or try to duplicate what they have
already done just because it worked. Which
meant this new album would be hit or miss, no
middle ground.
The sound in almost every track is dull
and drowsy making you almost think they have
forgotten how to play their instruments. I was
waiting for them to experiment with their instruments and find a new sound, but that never
happens. There is absolutely no emotion on
this album in the sound or in the vocals. The
album as a whole is to music what a soft, pale
and moist body laying on a metallic stretcher in
a morgue is to being alive.
I see it impossible, even for the most pretentious and stubborn indie fan, to admit that
this record is something they can compliment
and connect with. The only thing worse then
listening to this album on my headphones is
what I imagine it to sound live. With this record, there was not one track that stood out as
an immediate favorite or even a track I just had
to listen to on repeat for the first time. If I had
to choose a favorite I’d say it was “My Body is
a Cage” just because it’s the last excruciating
song on the album and puts an end to the whole
experience. Just because I loved this band’s
music up to this point, or any band for that matter, you have to judge the new material solely
on the music and not your “allegiance” to the
band as a fan.
I am just happy there are a handful of albums coming out this year I am looking forward to more and expect a higher potential to be
reached as they continue to make music. I feel
really bad for those music fans that had Neon
Bible as their most anticipated album of 2007.
And like I said, I really, REALLY wanted to
like this album, but my fears were proven true.
After first hearing their single “Botchla”
back in 2003, I knew that Poison The Well
would be a band that would follow me throughout my musical taste changes. This still applies
as I listen to their new album Versions.
Something that really draws me into
PTW’s music is that they mix elements of good
hardcore, brutal metal and make it appealing to
people who aren’t typically throwing down in
the pits. Since their last release You Come Before You in 2003, Poison The Well has changed
their lineup numerous times and yet they still
retain their amazing musical ability as a band.
What makes this record so much more tolerable for me is the absence of those annoying
spoken-word intros that were so very common
on You Come Before You. In their place, the
songs like “Letter Thing” begins with rapidfire drumming and shredding guitars. Jeffry
Moreira’s vocals are still loud, deep and throaty,
something everyone that listens to PTW has
come to expect.
What most wouldn’t expect is how clean
and clear sounding Moreira’s voice is compared
to the band’s earlier offerings. Precise vocals
have never really been a big element in the
hardcore/metal scene, but Versions really make
you think how much better some albums could
have been with some more time and better production values.
Another unexpected twist for the Poison
The Well camp is their use of country-style instruments such as slide guitars and banjos. I
never thought I would ever see country music
infused with punk-style drums and thrashing
guitars outside of a Me First and the Gimme
Gimme’s joke cover album Love The Country,
but I was so very very wrong.
Ryan Primack’s mastery of these new
found instruments is impressive to say the
least and their usage is in small, easy-to-swallow doses that can be appreciated by any of the
flat-brimmed-fitted hat wearing metal kids that
have called this scene their home.
Country-twang aside, Poison The Well
can still throw down and shred with the best
of them, and sell records at the same time. On
“The Notches That Create Your Headboard,”
guitars explode from the first second of the
track and blaze through the remaining two
minutes and 29 seconds. This is combined
with Chris Hornbrook’s lightning-fast drum
work and Moreira’s distinctive growl to create
the epitome of a great PTW, if not overall heavy
rock, song.
Ranging from two minutes to nearly six
minutes, Versions’ tracks run the gamut from
straight up thrash metal to melodic hardcore
and some place in between. It is easy for people
to write off any music that touches in the genres
of hardcore and metal because “it all sounds
the same” or “it’s totally incoherent.” To these
people, I say screw you, go back to whatever
garbage it is you listen to. Those who can listen
beyond that growling vocals and can appreciate
talented musicians at work, Versions will impress you more than that cute girl at shows with
the full sleeves and lip ring.
Following the recent success of the Timbaland-produced tracks “Promiscuous” by
Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” comes the release of Timbaland’s second solo album Timbaland Presents Shock
Value. However, calling it a solo album would
be misleading as the album is more of a collaboration album featuring high-profile artists
from all different genres. In an MTV interview, Timbaland said he wanted to take over
top-40 radio and with this album we may hear
him on every radio station on the dial.
The guest line-up ranges from the expected Magoo, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, to Dr. Dre, Missy Elliot, 50 Cent and
lead vocalist of The Pussycat Dolls Nicole
Scherzinger. It gets stranger though with appearances from Fall Out Boy, Elton John and
The Hives. Just looking at the names featured
on the album and knowing what Timbaland is
capable of should have anyone excited to pop
this album in—rightfully so.
The first single off the album and a song
some of you may have already heard on the
radio is “Give It To Me,” which features Timberlake and Furtado. When I heard the single
for the first time I knew that album was going
to be amazing, and I wasn’t too far off.
“One & Only” features Fall Out Boy.
When looking at the track list and special
guests, this was one of the first I just had to
listen to just to see how the hell he did it. It’s
a very upbeat song that mixes the typical poppunk elements Fall Out Boy brings to most of
their tracks, but Timbaland even drops a very
FOB-esque verse at the opening of the track.
If this does not prove he can adapt and master
any genre then I don’t know what does.
I have never heard of OneRepublic and
apparently they aren’t releasing their debut album until later this year, but they hold their
own even against such an impressive guest
list. There is something so familiar with their
track “Apologize” that it makes the listener
feel like they’ve heard it before, it is almost
comforting. If I had to compare them to another band I would have to point to The Fray.
The final track is “2 Man Show” featuring Elton John and it is probably the biggest
letdown. I’m a pretty big fan of Elton John
and after listening to this album I’m becoming a big fan of Timbaland, but Elton John is
kept in the background of the track—literally.
John just plays piano behind Timbaland’s “uhhuhs” and the chorus. As a track on it’s own
it’s a solid closer and a fine song, but I wanted
to hear more from Elton John. The same could
be said for the track “Throw It On Me” featuring The Hives, which hardly could be called
“featuring The Hives.”
I stressed the more odd tracks on the album because they stand out the most; however,
the hip-hop tracks are all good. “Come & Get
Me” may be the most solid of the straight-up
hip-hop tracks, and it features Tony Yayo and
50 Cent. In short, there’s literally something
for everyone on this album. If you’re looking
for hip-hop, R&B, pop-punk or just some allaround catchy pop music you’ll find at least a
handful of tracks worth listening to.
12
An Evening with Down in Worcester
Christopher Boulay
News Editor
The Worcester Palladium was
electric on March 30 when five guys
from New Orleans showed up for a
night to remember.
The Palladium, which is a fun
venue, was packed to the brim for
what turned out to be one of the most
incredible atmospheres I have ever experienced. The show started out with
a 40-minute video, which was at first
glance odd, but really got the crowd
going. Down did not use an opening
band on this tour, (hence “An Evening With Down”) but played home
video clips of themselves, mixed
with music videos from the band, as
well as their major influences. Videos of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin,
Cro-Mags, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad
Brains were shown, among others.
After the video finished, Down
opened with the introduction to Lysergik Funeral Procession and proceeded to give their fans’ their moneys worth. I think every person was
shocked by the amount of energy
that Phil Anselmo had at this concert. Anselmo performed as well as
he ever has which is probably something that many people were unsure
of before the show.
Anselmo hit the idea home
when he told the crowd later in the
show something along the lines of,
“This is my band. We aren’t going
fucking anywhere. Go tell everyone
that Down is back.”
He couldn’t have been more
right.
Anselmo was also very vocal
with the crowd during the show, as
usual. But it was all in good fun. At
one point, Anselmo spoke about the
new album, Down III. He began to
toy with the crowd and would not say
the release date. He turned around,
walked toward drummer Jimmy
Bower and the crowd began to playfully boo him.
Anselmo responded in a stern
voice, “Don’t you boo me! (pause)
Just kidding. It should come out
in September, but I might be lying
through my teeth.”
Anselmo continued through the
show to interact with the crowd, even
shaking crowd surfers’ hands as they
were being pulled to the ground by
the Palladium’s security.
One thing that seems to be a
fallacy that goes around about hard
rock shows is that the atmosphere
is negative. Not at this show. I have
never seen a band smiling, happy and
excited as the guys from Down were.
Anselmo on many occasions hugged
bassist Rex Brown during the show.
The crowd was also very positive.
I met some of the coolest people in
the world at the show and everyone
looked like they were enjoying themselves.
Down’s last song before their
three encores was “Eyes of the
South.” From that point, through the
encores of “Jail,” “Stone the Crow”
and “Bury Me in Smoke,” the band
had really connected with the audience. This is something that I cannot
explain on paper. One has to see it to
believe it. The energy in the crowd
was absolutely mind-blowing.
Before their final encore, Anselmo went over to Brown and told
the crowd, “You may not know this,
but me and Rex used to be in a little
band called Pantera.”
The crowd erupted louder than
they had all night. Anselmo asked
the crowd what they wanted to
hear, which left the crowd believing
that they would finish with one of
Pantera’s songs. They did not, which
I am sure disappointed some people,
but playing “Bury Me in Smoke”
absolutely blew the roof off of the
building. Every person in the Palladium sang along.
Guitarists Kirk Windstein and
Pepper James Keenan were very
good, despite rumors that Windstein
was not feeling 100 percent during
the show.
One great thing about going to
see this band is that you can actually meet them. Though, these guys
are all rock stars, they still are one of
the few bands that are happy to see
fans after the show. They are, in my
opinion, the classiest and best guys
in rock for that reason.
Though, we did have to wait
for Anselmo to come out for nearly
three hours, I think everyone was
content with that when a Palladium
worker said, “Phil is still in there because the Palladium is haunted. He’s
weird and from New Orleans. They
are all into that crazy stuff. So he’s
chasing ghosts and will be out when
he’s done.”
Taking a picture with Anselmo
and meeting the rest of the band was
worth the price of admission in itself. I am not kidding when I say that
I would pay $500 to see this show
again. Next time these guys come
around, everyone needs to check
these guys out. You will not regret
it.
I hope these guys can make it
up to the area again after the album
finishes. I don’t think I will ever see
a better show than that.
returntothepit.com
Left: (From Left to Right) Lead Guitarist Kirk Windstein, Rex
Brown, Phil Anselmo and Pepper James Keenan
Right: Philip Anselmo, lead singer of Down, at the Palladium.
13
Pop-Punk Stabbing Justified By Los Angeles Police
Edward Gaug
After turning himself in on murder charges this past Sunday, lead singer of the now defunct band Mest Tony Lovato has been cleared
on all charges and set free.
According to MTV, Los Angeles police
have let Lovato go after being incarcerated for
three days in a county jail.
Los Angeles Police Department Detective Richard Wheeler said the district attorney reviewing the facts of the case declined to
prosecute Lovato, 26, after he determined that,
“Mr. Lovato was acting in self-defense in the
incident,” according to the MTV.com story.
After what was said to be a clear-cut case
of self-defense, the District Attorney’s office
stated that the incident began over Lovato’s
ex-girlfriend and ended with the victim being
stabbed to death after an altercation with Lovato in an underground parking garage in LA.
According to the DA’s investigation, both Lovato and the victim had been seeing the same
girl back to back for over a year.
Meet The Robinsons
Another Disney-Pixar Hit
disney.go.com
Samantha Sullivan
Staff Writer
I was not surprised at all when I
walked into the Post Mall in Milford
this Saturday and saw a crowd of children leaving the theater. I knew what
movie they had been there to see, and
by the expressions on their faces, I
could tell that I was going to love it,
too.
Meet the Robinsons, the newest
Disney-Pixar film, turned out to be exactly as I had hoped it to be: brilliant. I
have never been a big fan of computer
animated films, but Pixar has roped
me in once again with their wit and
humor appeal for any age group (the
first time being with Disney’s 2006
box office sellout, Cars).
Based on the book A Day with
Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce,
the movie is set in the modern-day
and centered on a boy named Lewis,
who was left at an orphanage by his
mother when he was an infant. He is
what most people would consider a
“genius,” creating such inventions as
the perfect machine to properly portion the peanut butter and jelly on
your toast, “because too much peanut
butter sticks to the roof of your mouth
and gets crunchy, and too much jelly
spills out the sides and makes your
hands sticky.”
Lewis, just a few months away
from turning 13, feels like a failure af-
ter over 100 interviews with possible
adoptive parents, none of whom feel
he is right for their home. When all
of his inventions end in misery (and
often explosions), he nearly gives up
hope. It isn’t until a mysterious boy
named Wilbur whisks him away to
“Todayland,” set in the future, that
Lewis finally discovers the confidence
in himself to live up to his potential,
and maybe even to find a family.
The movie is a hit, packed, of
course, with the humorous innuendos intended for adult audiences that
Disney is known for, as well as the
comedy needed to keep the attention
of younger viewers. My attention was
held the entire time, as well as that of
my boyfriend and our mutual friend,
and we are all in our early twenties. I
can safely say that I am glad to have
seen that movie, and maybe even a
better person. Well, that may be an
exaggeration, but it was definitely a
$7 well-spent.
While I did not see it in 3-D, I did
see Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 3-D this past October and I have to say that it wasn’t
really three-dimensional at all. This
movie may be different because it was
made to be 3-D, but hey, life is already
in 3-D – why spend the extra $3?
Meet the Robinsons was officially released to theaters this past Friday,
offered in Disney Pixar 3-D where applicable.
Now why should anyone care about all of
this? I cared for two reasons: one being that
the lead singer of a lackluster pop-punk band
who was known for a song called “What’s the
Dillio?” killed a man. The other reason was a
bit more personal, Mest was actually headlining the first punk show I ever went to back in
2001. In the past six years, I have moved on in
my musical taste, but Mest is still known for
being horribly annoying.
Another thing that makes this event so
much more amusing is that Lovato and his fellow band mates are on the record for being devout Christians and all-around God lovers. So
what would make a perfectly fine young Christian stab a man to death? Could he not hold
his own in a fight and had to rely on a trusty
switchblade? Any way it went down, it’s pretty lame that a grown man would have to use a
weapon when he wasn’t threatened with one...
at least not that any news article is saying. All those years of punk “attitude” and clothing
style has finally gotten the best of Mr. Lovato
and he did what any punk on the street would
have done. Here in lies the problem, Tony Lo-
vato isn’t a punk, he isn’t even a respectable
musician. He is one of those over-tattooed,
multi-colored hair wannabes that took over the
pop-punk scene back in 2003 along the sides
of Good Charlotte and New Found Glory.
I guess after writing such lyrics as
“There’s this little girl and I think she’s so fine/
And I’m not giving up until she is mine/ See I
want to be her boy and I want her to be my girl/
Because since I’ve met her I been in another
world,” you have to do something drastic to
gain back the rest of that cred you couldn’t get
with a hundred tattoos.
Anyway you look at it, Tony Lovato is
a pop-punk murder and I think that’s funny.
I just wish he would have stayed in jail and
served his due time for killing someone over a
woman. Plus, usually when you turn yourself
in for a crime, it almost always means you’re
guilty, of course this doesn’t apply if you had
a video on MTV I guess. Mr. Lovato, go back
to Chicago, never record another album and
count your blessings that you aren’t someone’s
bitch right now.
Lifestyles
14
Downtime and a Trip to Las Vegas before Deployment
Part II of a Series
Roman Baca
Special to the Recorder
“Downtime.” Training, missions, combat
and war all have long stretches where you have
nothing “scheduled” to do. In boot camp it was
called “Senior Drill Instructors Time,” during
training – whether during drill or in 29 – it is
called “Platoon Commanders Time” and in Fallujah it was called “when I’m not on post, running a mission or volunteering for a mission.”
There are certain duties you are expected to
complete during this time: clean your weapon
(this one will prove very important during our
deployment), perform routine maintenance to
your gear and vehicle, study Marine Corps
knowledge, PT (to include running, push-ups,
gym…etc.), eat or sleep.
If you are an NCO you are expected, in
addition to the former, to monitor your Marines
and make sure they have performed the tasks
and are squared-away. NCO’s are also expected to monitor the general well-being of their
subordinates, be a good example at all times,
attend various meetings, attend extra classes,
act as councilors, disciplinarians, mentors,
physical trainers, education and career guides
and, on occasion, “dad.”
Once in a while, when faced with a bad
seed, being an NCO will end up feeling a lot
like the babysitter of a kid who throws tantrums all the time. This is a daunting list of
tasks for anyone, and it also proves why there
are significantly less NCO’s than “non-rates”Lance Corporals, Private First Classes and Privates, or, LCPL’s and below.
During our stay at 29, when we were
not training, we sought out to “live it up” on
our down time. We had several days when we
were allotted enough time to set out to either
29 Palms “city” (which is one lonely stretch of
road with tattoo parlors and fast food joints)
Palm Springs or Las Vegas. A few lucky ones
got to fetch their significant other and fly them
out for a visit.
Lawton and I found ourselves lucky and
met his wife and Lisa in Vegas for a weekend.
There is a certain amount of reckless abandon
that comes with knowing that you are headed
for combat, and what better place to be reckless
with abandon than Las Vegas? Every day and
night we had way too much to drink, way too
much to eat, spent way too much money and
had way too much fun. Lisa and I escaped for
an evening and got to see a Cirque du Soleil
show that – in true Las Vegas fashion –was full
of nudity, debauchery, loud music and sex. We
went dancing and made out in elevators like
high-schoolers.
My birthday fell during that weekend,
and we planned on meeting a few of the Marines at Toby Keith’s Bar and Grill on the
strip. They put a large cowboy hat on me and
Lawton and his wife bought me a shirt. Then
they dedicated a song to all the Marines in the
place, who were all at my table – songs like
“American Soldier,” “God Bless the USA”
and others all take on a whole new meaning
when you’re going to war – and people dining there sent over so many beers and shots I
don’t recall how we got back to the hotel room.
You are treated like ROYALTY when you are
leaving – and you are slowly forgotten when
you come back.
The breaks were well deserved, for the
training was grueling. Our platoon was too
small to go to Iraq on its own so we were attached to two other artillery battalions. They
fired big guns and were from hot climates. We
were from a cold climate and were trained to
drive Humvees that were fitted with tank-killing missiles. We were going to a place that
wasn’t that cold and that had no more aggressing tanks. We were not going to do the job that
most of us had trained years for. Our whole
unit was getting re-designated when we got
back anyway. Bye bye missiles, hello machine
guns. We were to get retrained in the role that
most of the soldiers and Marines performed
rolling out of Fallujah Base – Military Police.
My platoon, which I will refer to as TOW’s
(the name of the weapon system we employed
prior to 29), was skilled at driving Humvees
and working in convoys. Most of the senior
LCPLs and NCOs were also skilled in heavy
machine guns. The two other platoons were
not. So we visited the ranges a lot: .50 caliber
machine-gun range; Mk-19 automatic grenade
launcher range; close quarter battle range; M4 service rifle range; M-16 service rifle range;
M9 pistol range; convoy operations range; gasmask range; land nav range. That’s what 29 is:
over 200 acres of live-fire ranges.
A good amount of our NCOs ran the
training scenarios. We even visited one of
the brand-new, state-of-the-art convoy combat
trainers. It was a Humvee in a trailer and a
large screen. A computer generated program
ran a scenario and we used retro-fitted weapons to run the simulator program. You could
drive, the Humvee rumbled and the guns made
a clack-clack sound when CO2 pumped into
the receiver made the bolt “fire.”
Most of the ranges ran similar scenarios. We’d get up between 0430 and 05 (pronounced zero-four-thirty and zero-five). Some
would run to chow if we had time; others were
left to clean the barracks. We’d get carted to the
armory where we would undertake the arduous
process of getting our weapons and finally get
bussed out to a remote spot in the never-ending
landscape. Then we would split into smaller
groups, some would fire their weapon systems
while the others would switch between more
hip-pocket classes and sweating their asses off
in what shade they could find.
After firing our weapons, if the range was
small enough, we would “police call.” (Police
call: the all-too-familiar task of walking up and
down the range and picking up “brass trash,” or
the brass casings left behind after firing.) Every marine holds the traditional “police call”
near and dear to their hearts. TOWs have police called in the dead of winter in three feet of
snow, kicking the same to rustle up even more
brass. TOWs have even walked miles of range
to coil up the long copper wire left behind by
their missiles. So we were damn good at it.
Good thing, too, because the other platoons
were not very good at police call.
Another thing I failed to mention: TOWs
are above average Marines. Even before the
famed Gunnery Sergeant Poe entered our midst
in the last deployment and his moniker entered
our psyches, “Do the right thing, because it’s
the right thing to do.” Even before Captain Kelly
gave us our pocket cards with the many things
we should expect out of ourselves to carry at
all times (mine did not leave my wallet till after
Iraq), TOWs strove for hard work, doing things
pretty well and making pretty smart and fast
decisions. Most of my NCOs pushed me, when
I was a young LCPL, to volunteer, but not all
the time, to lead, but lead fairly, to work hard,
really hard and to have fun when the time was
allowed. The NCOs of my generation worked
hard to carry on in the same fashion. I spent
the first year of my time with TOWs wondering
if I would ever fit in, and five years later I hold
those men close to my heart.
Ah, so back to the ranges. After the police
call, which was inspected over and over again
because if your police call failed you were not
allowed back to the range, we would again get
bussed back to the armory to clean our weapons and turn them in. TOWs are good Marines,
sometimes too good. No cell phones on duty.
Nacho brought their cell phones and we would
moan and groan when they had pizza waiting
for them at the armory. We got smarter though,
and soon the “roach coach” (mobile snack command truck) was waiting for us.
There were four ranges that not even
TOWs, in their vast range experience, had ever
seen. These were the “new” ranges, designed
to get us ready for what was described as the
“wild west.” We thought we’d hit the ground
fighting over there. That’s what they were getting us ready for. We ate it up.
Sgt. Roman Baca served in Fallujah, Iraq
with the Marine Corps from 2005-2006. He is
currently a senior majoring in graphic design
here at Central.
Samantha Sullivan
Staff Writer
Dear Samantha,
A friend whom I have known for many
years has, as of lately, been lying to me
constantly. I asked her to go out with my
friends and I recently, but she claimed she
was busy going places with her mom that
night. I didn’t think anything of it until I
called her later on that evening and her
boyfriend answered her phone. He told me
that he was making her dinner that night
and that her mom had been out looking at
new houses. My “friend” had bold-faced
lied to me about not being able to go out
that night, telling me that it was because
of her mother’s new job when that was not
the truth. I had even invited her boyfriend
along on our night out, so it’s not like she
was staying home just to see him. I’m a little hurt by what she did, and I would like
to know how to go about dealing with the
situation from here.
Sincerely,
A Missing Friend
Dear Friend,
Anyone that lies purposefully is certainly not a good friend, and I think you already
know that. But before you go cutting her out
of your life, take into consideration her side
of the story – perhaps there is something circumstantial you may be missing.
How often does your friend get to see
her boyfriend? Do they go to school together? Maybe your friend is enjoying a lovelife with her boyfriend in which she is very
happy, or she just values the alone time she is
able to have with him, but she doesn’t want to
tell you and make you feel replaced. Perhaps
the original plans she had with her mother
had to be changed, after which she called her
boyfriend to make plans because she had already told you no for the night and did not
want to cause you any inconvenience. Even
if she simply was just lying to you about the
whole night, you’ll never really hear a reason that will make you happy without some
doubt in your mind.
You have two definite options in this
situation. Option 1: You can remove the lying bitch from your MySpace, Facebook and
AOL Instant Messenger friend lists, knowing that she’ll probably never meet anyone
else like you, and move on with your life.
Option 2: You can remember why you
became friends with her in the first place.
Is it worth losing a friend because she may
have made a bad decision? Talk to her about
how you feel – clear the air before you make
your choice. If she has an explanation - void
of bullshit - hear it out. And if you think it’s
worth another chance, forgive and forget.
Trust me when I say that the only thing worse
than losing a good friend is having no one to
confide in and that could even be the same
loss.
Be sure to email any questions or
concerns to [email protected]. I’d
love to help!
15
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS Review
Chris Demorro
Staff Writer
The Mitsubishi Lancer has a long and rather unimpressive track record as a ‘just there’ car.
Never terrible enough to warrant hate and never
good enough to lavish with praise, the Lancer
has always been ‘just there.’ Not anymore. The
completely redesigned 2008 Lancer grabs your
attention with a terrifying new stance, a hostile
front fascia and a bold sense of confidence unlike anything else in Mitsubishi’s lineup.
The Tarmac Black Lancer GTS stands out
from any other car on a Mitsubishi lot. The new
front-end evokes Mitsubishi’s storied aviation
history, with the stout nose and numerous air
intakes giving the car a jet-fighter feel. The
Lancer looks like a pissed off shark, ready to
tear the bumpers off of any boring family sedans that get in its way. The GTS is equipped
standard with handsome 18-inch wheels, a
rally-inspired spoiler and a sport-tuned suspension, lending the GTS it’s aggressive and confident stance. This is not the kind of car you want
to meet on some dark back road, because it may
just hurt your pride in more ways than one.
On the inside, the GTS model is lavishly
equipped with standard features often reserved
for luxury brands like Acura or Infiniti: a Bluetooth hands-free phone interface, iPod adaptability and steering wheel mounted paddle shifters if you opt for an automatic transmission. On
the inside, the Lancer is spacious, comfortable,
but a bit blander than the aggressive exterior
might lead one to believe. However, as unexciting as the interior is, it avoids the cheap, plastic
feel of many sub-$20,000 cars. Rather, it is a
no-nonsense and functional environment that
feels like a much more expensive car. This is
accomplished through otherwise minor details,
like the leather-wrapped steering wheel and a
healthy sound system.
However, all this aggressive and insistent
styling is just that; when it comes to backing
up bark with bite, the Lancer suddenly becomes
mute. While the Lancer packed on an additional
200 pounds over the 2007 model, the additional
weight didn’t come from hitting the gym. The
anemic 2.0-liter four cylinder is the only engine
available, and it is starting to show its age. Offering only 152 horsepower and 146 pound-feet of
torque, this shark-nosed sedan is missing all its
teeth. It may be that the appearance of the GTS
evokes images of screaming through winding
roads and tearing the asphalt up. But the power
just isn’t there, and the disappointment is only
amplified by the realization that as hard as the
Lancer GTS tries, it simply isn’t a sports car.
That’s not to say it doesn’t drive well, because
it does. The road manners are refined, and the
suspension offers an intrepid ride, gripping
the road confidently. The manual transmission
works efficiently and without complaint, but is
otherwise not worth mentioning.
However, despite the Lancer’s lackluster
performance, it is still a functional and sleek
looking family sedan. The Lancer also manages to deliver decent gas mileage, rated at 22
mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway.
The money you save on gas could be siphoned
into some aftermarket performance, beefing
up the weary old 2.0. On the safety front, Mitsubishi managed to squeeze seven airbags into
the sturdy frame, including rear side impact
airbags. ABS, daytime running lights, and an
alarm system are also included with the GTS
package, the highest package currently offered
for the ’08 Lancer.
With a Manufacturers Suggested Retail
Price of just $18,115, this is a bargain among an
ever-increasing segment of sub-$20,000 cars.
The base model starts at just over $14,600, so if
you can do without all the flair and fancy gadgets, this is still a well crafted and handsome
vehicle. However, disappointing performance
and an uninspired interior means that at least
for now, the all new Lancer still needs a bit of
spit and polish. Hopefully Mitsubishi will offer a 2.4 liter for some additional grunt. As the
Lancer sits now however, it receives a respectable three out of five stars.
Engine and Drivetrain Specifications
Engine Type
2.0L MIVEC I4 DOHC, 16-valve
Torque (lb.-ft. @ rpm)
146 @ 4250
Horsepower (SAE net @ rpm)
Compression Ratio
Bore and Stroke (mm.)
Fuel Delivery
Recommended Fuel
Fuel Economy (mpg)
Fuel Tank Capacity
Emissions
Transmission Type
Drivetrain
152 @ 6000
10:1
86.0 x 86.0
Multi-point fuel injection
Regular unleaded, 87 octane
21 city / 29 highway (5-speed manual);
22 city / 29 highway (CVT)
15.3 gallons
Fed: Tier 2 bin 5 / Calif.: PZEV
5-speed manual transmission;
CVT automatic with INVECS-III
Front wheel drive
Chassis, Suspension, and Body Specifications
Front Suspension
Independent front McPherson struts with stabilizer bar
Brakes
Front: ventilated disc; Rear: solid disc
Rear Suspension
Steering
Photos: Dieselstation.com
Turning Circle
Curb Weight
Multi-link rear suspension and stabilizer bar
Rack-and-pinion, Hydraulic Power Assist
32.8 ft (curb to curb)
3032 lbs (manual); 3109 lbs (CVT)
16
Mark Rowan
Editor-in-Chief
The Yale Symphony Orchestra and
Choir performed music from video games
such as the Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft and Castlevania
last Saturday, March 21 at Yale University’s Woolsey Hall. The night was part of
a traveling act called Video Games Live,
which combines video game footage, a
lightshow, stage performances and orchestrated music.
I hadn’t heard about Video Games
Live until my sister told me she won tickets for the event on WPLR, but in July the
production of the show will be celebrating its second anniversary. So after some
New Haven pizza and a couple beers, a
friend and I walked over to Woolsey Hall
not knowing exactly what we were getting
ourselves into.
Their website videogameslive.com
explains, “This is a concert event put on by
the video game industry to help encourage
and support the culture and art that video
games have become. Video Games Live
bridges a gap for entertainment by exposing new generations of music lovers and
fans to the symphonic orchestral experience while also providing a completely
new and unique experience for families
and/or non-gamers.”
That’s sort of the kicker—“Put on by
the video game industry.” As some parts
of the show felt like an advertisement, specifically when host and co-creator Tommy
Tallarico announced they would be play-
ing music from Advent Rising, which he
wrote the music for. The performance was
solid, but I felt like it was a waste of time
since there were so many video games left
untouched by the time the show ended.
However, the show did touch on
a number of popular and not so popular games that would have any hardcore
gamer wishing they were present. Besides
the ones mentioned earlier the orchestra
and choir also tackled Super Mario, Halo,
Metal Gear Solid, Myst, Kingdom Hearts,
Medal of Honor, Sonic the Hedgehog,
God of War, Civilization IV and a “Classic
Arcade Medley” that included bits from
Frogger, Space Invaders, Dragon’s Liar
and Gauntlet.
There was a problem with games
such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy though. Square-Enix, the company
that made both of those games, would not
allow footage to be shown of the games
themselves. So Kingdom Hearts just used
footage from Disney films and renditions
of Final Fantasy VII and VIII were done to
a black screen. This was a slight set back,
but the music was good enough to carry
the performance through.
Medal of Honor also did an interesting
take and I am not sure if this was because
of permission to use the footage or not, but
instead of game footage they used World
War II footage. Once again, this was done
well too, but was sort of a buzzkill with
elements becoming almost too glum when
compared to the cute jumping of a frog
that preceded it.
Video Games Live goal seems to be
bringing the beauty and talent in video
game compositions to light to the nonvideo game audience. I think that is a valiant effort and whole-heartedly agree that
there is an immense amount of talent going into each of these songs not only when
they were created for the game, but as they
are performed live. However, I am unsure
how many non-gamers are going to buy
tickets to an event called “Video Games
Live” unless it is a parent or significant
other that got dragged into it. While that
seems like a hump the production still has
to get over, it is good news for parents,
girlfriends and boyfriends—you won’t
be bored even if you haven’t a clue about
where the music originated.
I have to admit games like Myst,
Civilization IV and hell, even Metal Gear
Solid, World of Warcraft and Halo left me
in the dark. I’ve never played any of those
games much, never mind know their musical scores. That didn’t take away from the
fact that the music, the sole stage performance (Metal Gear Solid), and the lights
were all excellent.
The best part and biggest surprise
of the show had to be the performance
by pianist Martin Leung, who some may
know as the guy who blindfolded himself
and played Super Mario tunes ridiculously
fast on the Internet. Leung is a big part of
the show as he plays tracks from Final
Fantasy VIII, Super Mario and even used
Yale’s famous organ for some Castlevania
music. The audience could not help but sit
with their mouth half open as Leung flew
through the notes at speeds that borderline
humanly impossible. It was really something that had to be heard and seen to believe.
Other highlights included a Frogger
duel. As two audience members played
Frogger on the huge projection screen as
the orchestra played real-time game music.
Another audience member was selected
to play Space Invaders, also to real-time
music provided by the orchestra. This person didn’t have the pleasures of a controller though and had to move his spaceship
by moving himself. Both segments of the
show proved to be rather funny. My favorite part, however, had to be the Classic
Arcade Medley especially when I heard
the music from Gauntlet—it practically
gave me chills, which is something most
gamers experienced when hearing their
favorite songs.
All in all, it was a solid performance
all around. The show teased us by ending
on Halo, which I thought would be selling
us all short. However, an encore of a Final
Fantasy VII song “One-Winged Angel”
had everyone thrilled and the music was
so well done that for someone who hasn’t
played Final VII much longer than the first
hour (me) still left impressed. The event
is clearly for the die-hard gamer despite
the audience it is trying to captivate, and
even more specifically the die-hard modern Playstation gamer—as material from
Nintendo certainly lacked. I would have
paid anywhere from 10 to 15 dollars for
the event, but I’m glad I got in for free.

Rowan Resigns - The Recorder

Transcription

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